


It's all about Magic

by Lexijos_dot



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, F/F, F/M, Multi, Translation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:01:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 25,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24097744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lexijos_dot/pseuds/Lexijos_dot
Summary: In Hogwarts, The Barden Bella and the Treblemakers sing no more. They raise their wands to fight, straddle on broomsticks to soar. Follow the waves of laughter ringing along the shadowy alley, listen to the whispers across the green field. It's——all about MAGIC.※ In this story, Hogwarts is a 7-year college in the magic world. Young witch and wizard enrolled in the school when they're 17-year-old.
Relationships: Aubrey Posen/Jesse Swanson, Benji Applebaum/Emily Junk, Bumper Allen/Fat Amy, Chloe Beale/Beca Mitchell, Luke/Aubrey Posen, Stacie Conrad/Luke
Comments: 59
Kudos: 105





	1. [Background info]

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [It's all about Magic](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/618289) by UrSoWeird. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an authorized translation work (traditional Chinese to English). I don't own the fiction. All rights go to the original author, UrSoWeird. Click [here](http://riddle000.pixnet.net/blog/category/6589664/1) for the original version.
> 
> This chapter is the background info kindly summarized by UrSoWeird for reference. The story starts in the next chapter. You can click on the wand cores and woods for Ollivander's comments on their owners (source: Harry Potter Wiki).

### Character info

**Name**

| 

**House**

| 

**Wand Core/Length**

| 

**Wand Wood**

| 

**Patronus**

| 

**Year**  
 **(‘til the latest chapter)**

| 

**Pets**

| 

**Broomstick / Quidditch spot**  
  
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---  
  
Beca Mitchell

(half-blood)

| 

Slytherin 

| 

Dragon heartstring

/ 11 ¾"

| 

Pine

| 

Red Panda

| 

1

| 

Eagle Owl

| 

Thunderbolt VII

/ Seeker  
  
Chloe Beale

(muggle-born)

| 

Gryffindor 

| 

Phoenix feather

/ 10 ¼"

| 

Pear

| 

Snow Leopard 

| 

2

| 

Snowy Owl

|   
  
Aubrey Posen

(pureblood)

| 

Ravenclaw 

| 

Unicorn hair

/ 12 ¾"

| 

Applewood

| 

Reindeer

| 

2

| 

Screech Owl

|   
  
Jesse Swanson

(muggle-born)

| 

Hufflepuff 

| 

Unicorn hair

/ 11 ¼"

| 

Ebony

| 

Red Fox

| 

1

| 

Tawny Owl

| 

Starsweeper XXI

/ Seeker  
  
Emily Junks

(pureblood)

| 

Gryffindor 

| 

Unicorn hair

/ 13 ¼"

| 

English oak

| 

Collie

| 

(appear in later chapters)

| 

Scops Owl

| 

Comet 290

/ Chaser  
  
Benjamin Applebaum 

(half-blood)

| 

Hufflepuff 

| 

Kelpie mane

/ 14

| 

Chestnut

| 

Sheep

| 

1

| 

Toad

|   
  
(Fat) Amy Hobart

(pureblood)

| 

Slytherin 

| 

Unicorn hair

/ 10

| 

Maple

| 

Crocodile

| 

1

| 

|   
  
Stacie Conard

(pureblood)

| 

Slytherin 

| 

Jackalope antlers

/ 12 ¼"

| 

Dogwood

| 

Cat

| 

2

| 

British Longhair Cat 

| 

Twigger 90

/ Chaser  
  
Cynthia-Rose Adams

(half-blood)

| 

Gryffindor 

| 

Unicorn hair

/ 10 ½"

| 

Hornbeam

| 

Brown Bear

| 

1

| 

Brown Owl

| 

Varápidos

/ Chaser  
  
Lilly Onakuramara

(half-blood)

| 

Ravenclaw 

| 

Dittany

/ 11 ¾"

| 

Cherry

| 

Hare

| 

(appear in later chapters)

| 

Spider

|   
  
Bumper Allen

(pureblood)

| 

Hufflepuff 

| 

Unicorn hair

/ 10 ¾"

| 

Hazel

| 

Weasel

| 

2

| 

Barn Owl

| 

Turbo XXX

/ Beater  
  
Luke Evans

(pureblood)

| 

Ravenclaw 

| 

Dragon heartstring

/ 13 ½"

| 

Aspen

| 

Falcon

| 

3

| 

Grey Owl

| 

Siberian Arrow

/ Keeper (Captain)  
  
### Ollivander's comment

#### Wand Core

Dragon heartsting

| 

As a rule, dragon heartstrings produce wands with the most power, and which are capable of the most flamboyant spells. Dragon wands tend to learn more quickly than other types. While they can change allegiance if won from their original master, they always bond strongly with the current owner. The dragon wand tends to be easiest to turn to the Dark Arts, though it will not incline that way of its own accord. It is also the most prone of the three cores to accidents, being somewhat temperamental.

Back to Beca

Back to Luke  
  
---|---  
  
Phoenix feather

| 

This is the rarest core type. Phoenix feathers are capable of the greatest range of magic, though they may take longer than either unicorn or dragon cores to reveal this. They show the most initiative, sometimes acting of their own accord, a quality that many witches and wizards dislike. Phoenix feather wands are always the pickiest when it comes to potential owners, for the creature from which they are taken is one of the most independent and detached in the world. These wands are the hardest to tame and to personalise, and their allegiance is usually hard won. Back  
  
Unicorn hair

| 

Unicorn hair generally produces the most consistent magic, and is least subject to fluctuations and blockages. Wands with unicorn cores are generally the most difficult to turn to the Dark Arts. They are the most faithful of all wands, and usually remain strongly attached to their first owner, irrespective of whether he or she was an accomplished witch or wizard. Minor disadvantages of unicorn hair are that they do not make the most powerful wands (although the wand wood may compensate) and that they are prone to melancholy if seriously mishandled, meaning that the hair may 'die' and need replacing.

Back to Aubrey

Back to Jesse

Back to Emily

Back to Fat Amy

Back to Cynthia-Rose

Back to Bumper  
  
Kelpie mane

| 

It is known to be a substandard core material. Back  
  
Jackalope antlers

| 

The core was used by Isolt Sayre and James Steward when they began making their own wands in the 17th century. Back  
  
Dittany

| 

Dittany stalk is, so far, the only wand core in canon taken from a plant. Back  
  
#### Wand Wood

Pine

| 

The straight-grained pine wand always chooses an independent, individual master who may be perceived as a loner, intriguing and perhaps mysterious. Pine wands enjoy being used creatively, and unlike some others, will adapt unprotestingly to new methods and spells. Back  
  
---|---  
  
Pear

| 

This golden-toned wood produces wands of splendid magical powers, which give of their best in the hands of the warm-hearted, the generous and the wise. Possessors of pear wands are, in my experience, usually popular and well-respected. Back  
  
Applewood

| 

Applewood wands are not made in great numbers. They are powerful and best suited to an owner of high aims and ideals, as this wood mixes poorly with Dark magic. Back  
  
Ebony

| 

This jet-black wand wood has an impressive appearance and reputation, being highly suited to all manner of combative magic, and to Transfiguration. Back  
  
English Oak

| 

A wand for good times and bad, this is a friend as loyal as the wizard who deserves it. Wands of English oak demand partners of strength, courage and fidelity. Back  
  
Chestnut

| 

This is a most curious, multi-faceted wood, which varies greatly in its character depending on the wand core, and takes a great deal of colour from the personality that possesses it. Back  
  
Maple

| 

I have often found that those chosen by maple wands are by nature travellers and explorers; they are not stay-at-home wands, and prefer ambition in their witch or wizard, otherwise their magic grows heavy and lacklustre. Back  
  
Dogwood

| 

I have found that matching a dogwood wand with its ideal owner is always entertaining. Dogwood wands are quirky and mischievous; they have playful natures and insist upon partners who can provide them with scope for excitement and fun. Back  
  
Hornbeam

| 

Hornbeam selects for its life mate the talented witch or wizard with a single, pure passion, which some might call obsession (though I prefer the term ‘vision’), which will almost always be realised. Back  
  
Cherry

| 

This very rare wand wood creates a wand of strange power, most highly prized by the wizarding students of the school of Mahoutokoro in Japan, where those who own cherry wands have special prestige. Back  
  
Hazel

| 

A sensitive wand, hazel often reflects its owner’s emotional state and works best for a master who understands and can manage their own feelings. Back  
  
Aspen

| 

Wand-quality aspen wood is white and fine-grained, and highly prized by all wand-makers for its stylish resemblance to ivory and its usually outstanding charmwork. Back  
  
**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank UrSoWeird again for the permission of translation! It's such a remarkable work that deserves more! The description and characters are so precisely accorded with HP wizarding world (I guess that requires lots of researches) as well as the personality shaped in PP series. I do appreciate your efforts in bringing this piece to me and to other fellow readers.
> 
> \---
> 
> Because of Benji's surname, I always think his wand wood should be applewood instead of Aubrey's.


	2. Encounter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ※ Please note that in this story, Hogwarts is a 7-year college in the magic world. Young witch and wizard enrolled in the school when they're 17-year-old.

Chloe Beale had never thought of becoming a wizard one day.

Ever since childhood, she believed she would either be a vet like his father, or a dance teacher as her mother when she grew up. Until the day on her 17th birthday, an owl with a stack of letters tied above its talons broke into her house and turned her life upside down.

Chloe’s parents (as per the jargon of the wizarding world) were both completely muggle-born. So, when their daughter one day received a letter of acceptance from a school named Hogwarts, they, as all muggle family would be, utterly clueless. Thanks to the Hogwarts staff explaining in person, they finally realised the uniqueness of Chloe and supported their daughter, who was thrilled for enrolling into a magic school with all their heart immediately.

Buying items from the list at Diagon Alley was the first task to do. But with the optimistic and positive personality of Chloe as ever, the crossroad to Diagon Alley was soon be found. She then opened her account in Gringotts Bank together with her parents that had been curious to all kinds of magical stuff throughout the journey. Perhaps the culture shock was way too overwhelming, Mr and Mrs Beale left the entire afternoon of a shopping trip to their hyper daughter. The two wound down at the Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour under the recommendation of witches at Madam Malkin’s Robes.

Chloe held the first-year item list tightly, stepped towards the store directed by Madam Malkin just now. She checked the list again and looked up at the signboard.

“Ollivanders Wand Shop… Here it is.”

Without a second thought, she pushed the narrow front door.

At first glance, there was the roof-high ceiling height, loads of slim but long boxes occupying the shelves everywhere, including this one towering shelf upfront. It was a bit dusky inside Ollivanders. Even those slender boxes were covered with dusk on their surface. Look at the corners of the ceiling, and you might discover spider web vaguely. Chloe swallowed nervously. Despite the fear, she had always wanted her own wand, and so she stepped forward to the tall counter.

There was no one behind the counter. Chloe looked around, puzzled, then she noticed the brass calling bell on the bar. She rang it.

The shop was filled with ear-piercing bell rings right after that Chloe covered her ears at once. In the meantime, an old man walked through the curtains behind the front desk. The chiming ceased when he waved his wand. Chloe swallowed again.

“Excuse me…”

The old man lifted the reading glasses and located the voice from the red-haired girl in front of the desk. The girl with her arctic blue eyes wide open and gripping a parchment received a smile from the old.

Chloe eased up a little after seeing the smile. She handed the parchment over.

“Hogwarts first year?” he asked when returning it to Chloe.

Chloe took it and nodded.

“On your own? It’s brave of you.”

Chloe grinned, “My parents are waiting nearby but I want to buy myself a wand so badly, so I just come alone.”

The old man replied, “yes, yes. I’m Ollivander and welcome to my shop for the wands. Now, let me see… Which is your wand arm?” He pulled a tape measure out of his pocket.

Chloe froze for a moment before answering, “Er, I’m right-handed.” She waved her right arm up.

Ollivander beamed and jiggled the tape measure. It extended along with Chloe’s right arm. When he measured Chloe’s arm length, he asked, “Are you muggle-born?”

Chloe nodded with embarrassment.

“Please don't mistake me. I do not intend to judge your background. I have sold hundreds of thousands of wands, in which many of them went to those muggle-borns that later grew into remarkable witches and wizards.”

“The present Mistress of Magic, Hermione Granger is also one of the muggle-borns and her wand was brought here too.” There was full of pride in Ollivander’s voice. Chloe nodded astonishingly.

He finished confirming the numbers. With another jiggling, the tape measure retracted. Ollivander double checked the numbers, ignored the confused Chloe, then turned around flitting the shelves behind the counter.

The only thing she could hear on and off was his voice murmuring to himself.

“This… Absolutely not. Oh, this… it should work…”

Chloe simply couldn't take her eyes off the old man rummaging through different narrow boxes. When he eventually turned to her, in his hand holding was a dark green box. His slender fingers lift open the lid gently. There he took out a beige wand.

“Rowan and unicorn hair. Ten and third quarters long.” He passed to Chloe, who was raring to give it a try. His eyes hid at the back of the reading glasses, demonstrated a genuine interest in his gaze.

“Try it out.” He gestured up in the air.

Chloe raised the wand and wiggled. Nothing happened.

Ollivander fawned, immediately took the wand back in the box. Then he walked to another side of the shop where boxes were piled up to the ceiling as well.

“Maybe…” He climbed up on a ladder, pondered. The ladder seemed to have the self-awareness that it slid to the correct position right away. Ollivander reached his hand to search in the mound of boxes near the ceiling.

Chloe stared at him, stepping down the ladder with an indigo box. He placed it on the desk, extracted a goldish wood brown wand. Chloe fell in love with this wand at the very first sight.

“Pear, and phoenix feather. Ten and a quarter long. Springy and supple. Try —”

Chloe took it, already felt a stream of force from the wand. She swung lightly in the right hand. The wand shot bright golden sparkling firework straight away.

“Bravo. Bravo!” Ollivander awed. Chloe’s face blushed because of the compliment. She returned the wand to Ollivander who was still repeating the amazement while wrapping it in brown paper.

“Phoenix feather is a rare wand core. Although it can perform the most varied spells, the witches or wizards who are able to master it — are as rare. Phoenix feather cored wands typically have exacting standards for its owner. Yet, your wand chooses you without hesitation. I believe that makes it a truly loyal wand.” He gave the wand to Chloe carefully.

Chloe could hardly imagine owning a wand when leaving The Ollivanders. She hugged that indigo box so firmly against her chest, flashing back to Ollivander’s words that she failed to see a girl with a bag full of textbooks, coming out from Flourish and Blotts. The two bumped to each other.

A flat open book on the ground caught her eyes when she got down and helped the girl. That was precisely the magazine she begged her parents to buy at the book store which featured the interview of the legendary singer, Celestina Warbeck.

Chloe had been a musicaholic since long time ago. It was first the music from her mum’s dancing class that sparked her interests of music. After contacting various music genres, she couldn’t help but fall for pop music, and hence she was an expert of boy bands in the muggle world.

Without a doubt that when she discovered the sui generis pop music of the wizarding world, she was obsessed with that deeply.

“Sorry, my bad. I didn’t notice you.” Chloe returned the books in hand back to the girl. Only until now did she spot the girl had bright long blonde hair, pretty face and a pair of emerald green eyes.

The girl gathered the books, shook her head and apologised, “I should be the one apologising. I didn’t see you coming. Sorry.” When she put the books into the bag, Chloe finally plunked up the courage to ask, “do you like Celestina Warbeck too?”

The girl paused a while, then nodded with a grin.

“I grew up listening to Celestina Warbeck, but my father always says pop music is for bimbo. So I bought it behind his back.” She smirked and reached her hand, “I’m Aubrey. Are you a Hogwarts first year as well?”

Chloe held her hand right after with a sparkling smile.

“I’m Chloe. I think we’re gonna be really fast friends”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaand, nah! This is not an Aubrey/Chloe fanfic~ Beca will be here soon!!!
> 
> \---
> 
> B


	3. Sorting

Going onto Platform 9¾ wasn’t the problem worried Chloe the most, how to farewell to her cry-their-eyes-out parents it was.

By the time Chloe’s parents unwillingly let her escape from the cuddles, Hogwarts Express already whistled sonorously. She grasped her luggage in one hand, gripped the iron birdcage on the other — inside was a gift from her parents, a snowy owl clucking and hooting. She strode, then rushed towards the train that had started departing and managed to fly a kiss to her parents waving goodbye on the platform.

Aubrey had been expecting her on the train. She took over the birdcage and led her to the carriage she stayed.

Hogwarts first-year students may bring a cat, a toad or an owl with them. Most students preferred owls since they could handle mail delivery and collection. Same for Aubrey. Her owl was a reddish-brown screech owl who was resting in its cage on the overhead rack, napping soundly in its feathers.

Chloe sprawled on the comfy seat after spending so much effort pushing all her luggage onto the storage rack. Meanwhile, a witch with a snack cart walked pass the corridor peddling. Chloe couldn’t wait to taste the chocolate sandwich ball with strawberries and rich, creamy filling and also the lemon drops that Aubrey once mentioned. Apart from those, she also bought some pumpkin pies for lunch. Aubrey just gawked at Chloe having a snacks hill on her chest, digging into the pocket for some silver Sickles to pay before heaping up another snacks mountain on the seat.

“Dun you buy somethin’?” Chloe tore open the package and devoured the chocolate sandwich ball.

Aubrey swallowed.

“My father doesn’t allow me to eat any sweets,” she muttered haltingly, “he always says sweets is for the weak.” Then drop her gaze onto the lettuce salad in her holding.

Since the last encounter in Diagon Alley, They started chatting through owl frequently. That was how Chloe latched on her pureblood family background and her strict father. Aubrey was self-demanding as well. Under the double pressure, it was understandable that she always looked like she could break down in any second.

A lemon drop flew straight to Aubrey’s face all of a sudden. She reached out to fetch.

“Your father isn't around, right?” Chloe blinked before another bite on her chocolate ball.

Aubrey smiled.

The train slowed down after Hogsmeade and eventually halted. The Hogwarts students were in their robes, filed out from each carriage. The first-years were under the gamekeeper, Rubeus Hagrid’s lead (Chloe couldn’t hold her gaping, staring at Hagrid who was at least a few times of her size; until Aubrey nudged her that she kept with the line). They rode on boats gliding across the lake of bottomless darkness to a giant castle ablaze with light and flame.

Outside the castle’s front door welcoming their arrival was a mid-age wizard. He introduced himself as Professor Longbottom of Herbology and brought the first-years to a staircase to the Hall (then tripped himself by his robe on the way up which triggered some sniggers at the back). He stopped the crowd outside the Great Hall before disappearing behind the wooden entry door.

The newcomers looked around, whispering. It came to Chloe’s notice that not only people inside the portraits could walk freely, they even vanished outside the frame sometimes. There were also pearl-white ghosts flying in and out of the wall from time to time. Her heart was pumping fast in excitement, and her eyes were darting left and right, while Aubrey beside her felt nothing unusual of these moving portraits and ghosts. She just fixed her gaze onto the tightly closed door.

“Hey, are you alright?” Chloe tapped on her shoulders gently.

Aubrey nodded but still seemed like she would puke at any moment. Finally, she squeezed an answer after forcing herself to take an deep inhale, “my father told me not to expect to step my foot at home if… if I was put into Hufflepuff or Slytherin.”

Chloe rolled her eyes behind her back. This was the absolute last thing a normal father should tell his daughter.

The door was opened suddenly. Professor Longbottom beckoned to the waiting crowd to the Hall. Four seemingly endless long tables were placed in a parallel way. They were almost fully seated by students of different years in accordance to their houses. The High Table was put horizontally; behind it sat Hogwarts teachers. The new students passed through the middle walkway to the front of the High Table in a line. On Professor Longbottom’s hand, it held a frayed and patched Sorting Hat as he bowed to the headmistress, Professor McGonagall. After she nodded as approval, his left hand jiggled to unroll the long scroll of parchment.

He cleared his throat.

“Allen, Bumper!”

A stubby boy stumbled out the line. Professor Longbottom placed the Sorting Hat on his head. Everyone held their breath.

It is only a moment of pause before it shouted, “ **HUFFLEPUFF!** ”

The rightmost long table burst with claps and cheers. The boy beamed as he heading towards Hufflepuff’s table and high-fived with some older students.

After that, an “Anthony, David” went to Ravenclaw.

“Beale, Chloe!”

Chloe took a deep, deep breath, proceeded.

Professor Longbottom dropped the hat softly on her head. The brim blocked her sight entirely. The hat thought a bit longer than the previous two. It felt at least a century long to Chloe. Eventually, she heard the Hat declaring —

“ **GRYFFINDOR!** ”

She removed the Hat, showing a grin from ear to ear and trying hard not to focus on her trembling feet. She headed to Gryffindor’s table burst with hurray for their first new student, continued to watch the sorting of the rest.

The long list finally came to…

“Posen, Aubrey!”

Chloe watched the paled Aubrey walking to the Sorting Hat. She prayed.

“ **RAVENCLAW!** ”

The leftmost table exploded with applause and clapping.

Slightly disappointed, though, she could tell Aubrey was relieved. She turned to wave at Aubrey who just sat still; the latter looked like a heavy burden lifted.

Professor McGonagall stood up at the back of the Main Table after the last girl sat down on Hufflepuff’s table. The hall went from buzzing to silently nothing right away. All eyes were on the Headmistress.

She smiled.

“Wish all of you a year full of hope and joy!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beca is kidnapped 'til next chapter :)
> 
> \---
> 
> B


	4. Redness

#### A YEAR LATER

Beca Mitchell struggled to push the cart carrying a huge trunk and an iron birdcage across Platform 9¾.

What came in her sight was a locomotive steamed in plumes. She flipped the sweating fringe, studied the Hogwarts students came and went. The area was overflowing with eagerness.

A hand patted on her shoulder. She turned around, facing a witch in her mid-age.

“Well, you can just wait a bit for me, little gnome.”

Rolling her eyes to the back to her head was Beca’s response to the nickname.

“What? Is it _that_ physically demanding for _Step-monster_ to cross the platform?” She mocked, but the corner of the mouth was indeed raised. The witch rolled her eyes in return.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah… I’m not as lively as a gnome. Skipping and hopping all day long isn’t really my thing.”

Beca was about to fight back, but the witch had made her way to the train with laughter. All she could do was pouting and wheeling the cart after her.

This sort of squabble was the everyday routine in the Mitchells.

Dr Mitchell was currently serving at the Research and Development Department of Ministry of Magic. 15 years ago, he met Beca’s mother in the muggle world. Soon they fell in love, and had Beca shortly after marriage. However, Beca’s mum passed away from illness when Beca was just 7. Dr Mitchell did hit rock bottom until Beca’s step-mother, Sheila Farley, the witch squabbling with her just now, entered his life. Beca found it hard to accept in the first place. Yet, the caring from Sheila and similar personalities they shared drew them closer. Beca never admitted, still, deep down she had always appreciated Sheila for gladdening her gloomy father and uniting the family again.

“Your dad had wished you good luck!” Sheila mentioned while Beca was loading her belongings to the train.

Beca puckered her lips.

“You know it's the emergency in the department that keeps him away. If the situation allows, he’d be more than willing to come.” Sheila softened her voice and stroked Beca’s upper arm to comfort.

She said nothing but nodded.

“Aaaalright! Lil gnome, which house would you like to be, huh?” Sheila attempted to change the subject with much enthusiasm in her voice.

“As if I have a choice.” Despite the sarcastic tone, Beca tilted her head and pondered. “Hmmm, any house but Slytherin.” She squinted at Sheila with a smirk.

Sheila responded with feigned disappointment, “hey! You should know Slytherin isn’t what it sounds like. We do have outstanding alumni, okay?” She put on an angry face with arms akimbo as Beca doubled up in laughter.

“Okay, okay. I get it.” She laughed, “I don’t care ’bout the houses as long as I get to play Quidditch.”

“Sure, go break all Hogwarts Quidditch records, my flying gnome!” She rubbed the brunette long hair of Beca as she giggled. She repaid with groans, flung her arm away and turned to the train. The Express shrieked at the same time.

“Don’t forget to write us letters!”

Beca gestured casually as acknowledgement. Nevertheless, she couldn’t help herself gazing upon the silhouette of Sheila waving on the platform when the train began to depart.

She dragged the luggage, walked past a few carriages which were fully occupied. Finally, she came to the last compartment. As she slid open the door, she crashed into a girl.

Thanks to the agility obtained from the Quidditch games, she caught the girl before the two were knocked down. And thus, the girl fell on her with reddish-brown hair covering Beca’s face completely.

All Beca could see was nothing but a bright shade of auburn. There was even a hint of sweet pearwood scent in the air.

The girl hastened to get up from her, offered her hand to Beca as she apologized.

“I’m so sorry. I always bump into people. Are you alright? Did you get hurt?”

Beca just gazed right at the girl.

She was in Gryffindor’s robe with golden buttons all done up. But the things that genuinely held up her gaze were that fluffy yet elegant red hair fallen perfectly on the shoulders, and the most radiant beam shining on her right now. It also came to Beca’s attention that the pair of eyes goggling on her was clear as crystal, blue as the ocean.

Beca blinked, barely pull herself out of the oceanic blue. She let the girl got her on her feet.

“Are you a first-year? You are such a quick-witter! Do you play Quidditch? You must be an excellent player! Oh, are those headphones on your neck?” The girl threw a bunch of questions but Beca could only catch the last one.

“Um, yeah. My dad cast a spell on that, so they can function within Hogwarts…”

Another voice rang from the back before she could finish the sentence.

“Chloe? What are you doing? Our carriage is here.”

Beca saw a head craning from the compartment behind. That was a girl with tidy and glossy blonde hair who was gaping at the two.

“Aubrey! There you are. I must be confunded that I can’t see you.” She chuckled.

The blonde rolled her eyes, scanned Beca up and down, then back to the compartment.

It was Ravenclaw’s robe on the blonde.

Chloe turned around, facing Beca with the brightest smile she ever saw. Chloe reached her hand out.

“Forgot to introduce myself. I’m Chloe, second-year of Gryffindor.”

“Beca.”

For a while, their sight froze on each other until Beca broke the moment of silence.

“Well, if everything’s cool, my friend is in the compartment ‘round the corner.”

Chloe’s eyes flashed with disappointment but were covered with a smile promptly.

“Great. Hope to see you again. Wish you all the best!”

She left for the compartment where Aubrey stayed and winked at Beca right before getting in.

Beca felt the heat of her face straight away.

She and her trunk had arrived the last compartment and slid open the door. 

“Finally.” The girl in brown hair lifted her head. She mumbled after confirming that was Beca, then put her focus back at _Hogwarts: A History_ in her hands _._

After tugging the trunk to the compartment, Beca crashed on the cushy bench as if she’d finished a marathon. She couldn’t believe her first day at Hogwarts was as dramatic as melodrama.

“Shut up, Conard.”

She pulled the headphones on her neck and rested her eyes. She decided to immerse herself into the music world before the train arriving Hogwarts.

* * *

Standing inside the Hogwarts Hall with stars twinkling up above, Beca was among the line of the newcomers. Her right hand clutched the lower hem of the robe as the students approached one after one to the Sorting Hat.

It was definitely a lie saying she wasn't tensed up at all. Though Beca didn't hold any strong preference to the houses, she still prayed for not sorting to Slytherin. Although Sheila did reassure her Slytherin wasn't what she presumed, there was no way in hell Sheila could get the chance calling her ‘sis’.

If it may, she wished she was put into the same house as Stacie.

The Mitchells were living in a striking distance to The Conards, and so Beca and Stacie were basically watching each other grew. Both spent their childhood in all kinds of pranks, scampering and Quidditch. She and Stacie adored Quidditch down to the bottom of their hearts and Beca herself already was an excellent seeker (if knocking others off the broom wasn’t a foul). Besides, it was Stacie supporting her through the loss of her mother. Having a sharp tongue alike Beca, it didn’t stop Beca from knowing her bestie did value their friendship.

“Conard, Stacie!”

Professor Longbottom’s voice had travelled to Beca’s ears. She turned to check on her emotionless bestie. The latter presented herself out of the line, to the front and under the Hat.

“ **SLYTHERIN!** ”

Beca let out a voiceless ululate, yet wasn't surprised. The Conards was a notable pureblood family, and Stacie happened to be the most intelligent and ambitious of her age (I mean, c’mon, what kind of an 11-year old kid would have studied through every single textbook before the school commences?). Then it popped in her head that, yup, it was Hermione Granger. Plus, Beca was very confident that Stacie’s future career choice must undoubtedly be the Mistress of Magic. She complained silently. Now she wasn’t that sure if she still wanted to be in the same house as Stacie’s.

The hurray from Slytherin hadn’t halt yet. Stacie removed the Hat, led herself to the Slytherin’s table with elegance. She winked at Beca en route while Beca responded with a stick-out tongue.

After Stacie, it was a chubby blonde girl (Beca hated to judge people by their size, but gosh, the girl had been introducing herself as ‘Fat Amy’ on the way here) who was welcomed by Slytherin. She swaggered to that table, high-fived to a few older students and Stacie. Beca grinned at the scene.

She studied across the Hall. Four long tables were packed with the students with everyone were in their pitch-dark robes. Only the colour of the inner layer could tell their houses — from the leftmost to the rightmost table of the Hall, accordingly: Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Slytherin and Hufflepuff.

Beca’s sight swept from Slytherin’s table to Gryffindor’s aside and was held by a shade of redness. She defended herself that red-hair was really noticeable among the blackness. She stared at Chloe chatting with a new member of Gryffindor, a black girl in a kickin hairstyle (she should be Cynthia Reese, wait, or Rose?). Chloe was ablaze in that grin again, the one that stoned Beca back in the Express.

And, all of a sudden, their eyes met and fixed.

Chloe smiled at her. Beca, under utter awkwardness, retracted her gaze and pretended to pay attention to the ceremony. Still, she could sense the passionate eye lingered on her for a while more.

Next up…

“Mitchell, Beca!”

She didn’t notice that the line had shortened quite a lot. When her name was announced, she was dazed for a second, then moved forward.

When her eyes sunk in the complete darkness of the Hat, she recalled her father telling her that the Hat would consider your desire.

Fine.

She breathed.

No Sly…

“ **SLYTHERIN!** ”

Fuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> B


	5. Shyness

Stacie threw a grimace at Beca who was shuffling her feet to Slytherin’s table. She buried her face to the palms after sitting down.

“I can’t believe I did end up in Slytherin.”

“Thought you don’t give a damn.” Stacie prodded her head.

“Sheila won't let the perfect chance of mocking me slip by.” She groaned again because of the thought.

“Hey, how is she doin’? Didn’t get to greet her today.” Stacie took no heed of her bestie’s breakdown.

Beca raised her head for a fierce glare. Stacie just shrugged it off.

The question remained unanswered. Beca concentrated on the rest of the first-years.

The ceremony ended when the last boy in the name of Jesse Swanson joined Hufflepuff.

“At least we can now feast ourselves.”

The empty plates in front were stacked with food in a blink. Stacie sitting by her side reached for a scoop of mashed potato. Beca was totally occupied by passing roast chicken to Fat Amy who had already built a plate tower on the table. When waiting for Amy to take over the plate, she darted a glance at the Gryffindor’s table behind Amy.

Chloe, on that table, was putting caramel pudding onto the plate (geez, who would have dessert before a meal?). Beca wondered. But seeing the happy face, her corners of the mouth lifted.

“Heyyy, peeker. Who’s your target?” Stacie’s head thrust towards Beca, tracing along Beca’s line of sight. She blew a whistle after figured out the end of the path led to Chloe.

“Nice one, Mitchell.”

“Shut up Conard.”

Fat Amy was drawn by their conversation, turn around to check out on Chloe.

“Wow, hottie hottie.”

Beca decided to pay no attention to the two snickering idiots and fed herself with whatever it was in her plate.

Making sure Stacie’s and Amy’s attention was no longer on her, Beca attempted to peek at Gryffindor unintentionally a few more times when grabbing food. She swore there was one time or two that the blue eyes were looking at her too.

The bouquet was over. The Slytherin first-years followed the prefect through lengthy walkways and stairs (Beca saw the Gryffindors turned left to a staircase once got out of the Great Hall), to the dungeons of the castle, stopped in front of a rough stone wall.

“Password — pureblood.”

Beca did an eye-roll, whispered to Stacie, “Can it be more bloodist? I mean, I’m not even pureblood.”

Stacie cackled. The two immediately received a death stare from the prefect.

An entrance revealed itself on the wall. Everyone entered after the prefect.

The common room was a cavernous, comfy area bored through the stone wall. The house colours of emerald green and silver were practically everywhere. A fire was crackling under an elaborately carved mantelpiece all year round so the warmth could cast away the bone-freezing coldness. Through the windows, Beca saw the depths of the Hogwarts lake. As she looked closer, shoals of vivid fish and a giant squid swooshing by. She recalled Stacie once mentioned that the Slytherin common room was constructed on the crag where Hogwarts castle situated, underground. As a result, the scenery outside the window was actually from the Great Lake. The presence of round windows acted as a bonus to the aura of an underwater shipwreck.

Beca and Stacie headed inside their dormitory. Four dark-coloured single beds with ornate headboards were set within the room. There, each was covered by blackish green, cosy bed sheets and fluffy pillows. Fat Amy claimed the bed by the door instantly while Beca settled by the window. Stacie took a seat on the one next to her as well. Their fourth roommate supposed to be a senior girl but rumours said she had dropped out due to a severe infection of dragon pox. This meant

the room was exclusively owned by the three ladies.

Glancing at the dark blue lake, it brought Beca back to those sparkling hues in that pair of blue eyes.

She shook herself out of the shades of blueness and cleared her mind. Falling with a flop onto the mattress, sleepiness emerged and conquered her with every splash of waves.

* * *

The next day morning, Beca woke, freshened up and followed Stacie to the Great Hall, unwillingly and was basically being dragged.

At the Hall, students had their seat scattered around in twos and threes. Many still wore a drowsy look as Beca but not for Fat Amy. She was already savouring her second round of breakfast.

Sitting down, Beca yawned loudly yet unabashed. She suddenly felt an elbow poke from Stacie.

“Hey! What the…”

“Beca. Morning.”

A soft voice greeted from her back. Beca turned around, found out Chloe was smiling at her.

“G-Good morning, Chloe.” She could practically hear Stacie’s and Amy’s tease aside.

“Congrats of being sorted into Slytherin.” That beam again — the one that melted Beca’s heart.

She was just about to answer. “Chloe!” A voice interrupted her.

Beca looked around. Oh, that Ravenclaw blonde on the train again. She lifted an eyebrow, watching Chloe at the moment of speaking.

“Gotta go to class now. Best of luck for your first school day!” She blinked and went with the blonde.

Beca lost her tongue, blankly stared at her silhouette leaving the Hall before went back to her still-empty plate.

“Dang! She wishes you luck in person. Not bad, Mitchell!” Stacie nudged her and Amy gave her an evil smirk with an approving nod.

Hundreds of owls steamed into the Hall for morning delivery. The eagle owl of Beca dropped a letter, then sipped itself a few mouthfuls of orange juice that she hadn’t get to taste.

A brief glimpse on the envelope, the neat handwriting indicated Beca the sender. She threw it to Stacie who pursed her lips. The letter was opened, and she began to skim several lines.

“Hmm… your dad wishes you all well for the new school year. Don’t stay up late. Listen to the teachers, wait wait wait… Aww, they say hi to me too! Lucky me.”

Apart from her father’s signoff at the end of the letter, there was Sheila’s too, with a (totally unnecessary) big hand-drawn heart, and a PS in her fancy handwriting: 

> _Slytherin sista, go wreck Hogwarts!_

The groan from Beca was way too noticeable that the Hufflepuffs on the other table craned their necks in curiosity.

“ **HOW ON EARTH DID SHE KNOW THAT?”**

“Er, my guess is because I told my mum, then it passed to my dad, and to yours. And you know…”

Beca buried her face in the hands once again. Amy from across the table patted her in sympathy with one hand, shovelled the scrambled egg into her mouth with the other.

Here on the way to the Transfigure classroom, Chloe and Aubrey walked side by side. Chloe was humming melodies gladly, while Aubrey threw a sceptical look to her best friend in an apparent state of joy. She said, “I refuse to believe that you _did_ speak to a Slytherin.”

They took a left turn by the staircase from the Hall to the second floor and set foot in the corridor on the left. Aubrey went on, “You are a muggle-born so you may not realise, but Slytherin had been the cradle of countless wicked wizards for ages. My point is, you have no idea of what they are up to.”

“Aubrey, you know that doesn’t apply to all Slytherins.” Chloe responded and grin as usual, “besides, Beca is adorkable!”

Aubrey scanned her glowing bestie, shook her head in disbelief.

“Aubrey, Chloe, good morning.”

A baritone voice got their attention. Aubrey’s cheeks went rosy right away when she traced the sound back to its origin.

“Morning, Luke.”

As a contrast to Aubrey being at a loss, Chloe greeted the blonde boy in Ravenclaw’s robe naturally. The boy smiled back and darted his eyes to Aubrey by Chloe’s side.

“Mo-morning, Luke.” Aubrey was too afraid to look into his eyes. She pulled Chloe into Transfigure classroom after the haste reply.

“You. Love. Luke. Evans!” Chloe ragged in a singing voice that was audible only to Aubrey.

A fiery punch landed on Chloe’s arm.

But when she looked down at the transfigure notes, Aubrey’s face still flushed with redness that Chloe couldn’t hold her laughter back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Luke: appeared as the station manager of Barden University's radio station in Pitch Perfect 1 ([ Click for more info on Luke ](https://pitch-perfect.fandom.com/wiki/Luke))
> 
> \---
> 
> B


	6. Classes

Beca didn’t expect Hogwarts curriculum would take up that much of her energy.

Aside from the classes so complicated that she had her head stuck in parchments to copy every word, there were still a lot more spells, wand gestures, herbs and fungi, potion ingredients, movement of planets… and so on. Everything caught Beca unprepared.

All first-years had to gather on Wednesdays at midnight for Astronomy class at the highest point of the castle, the Astronomy Tower. Beneath the starry night, they studied the movement of planets and the position of stars. As for Thursday mornings, there was a marathon of three-hour History of Magic class. Professor Binns, their ghost teacher, had a wheezy, droning voice that was guaranteed to cause severe drowsiness together with the unbearably dull module. Charms class on Wednesday afternoons was conducted by Professor Flitwick, a tiny little wizard. At their first meeting, a Ravenclaw boy flew his textbook by accident and toppled Professor Flitwick, who was standing on a pile of books explaining the curriculum, onto the ground.

On top of that, three times a week they went out to the greenhouse behind the castle to study Herbology, with Professor Longbottom they met in the Sorting Ceremony. He, without a doubt, was an amiable wizard in his forties and was knowledgeable in Herbology. However, he was a bit… _corky_.

Slytherins had their Herbology class jointly with Hufflepuff. In the first lesson, Professor Longbottom was so caught up in introducing the lesson that his waving hands smashed two pots of Dittany into pieces. And when the vines of Bouncing Bulb had tripped him over for God-knows-how-many times, two Hufflepuff boys finally grabbed his arms from falling. Sadly, his robe was already ruined by mud. Even so, his enthusiasm throughout the lesson hadn't depreciated even a bit.

* * *

Transfigure was too much like hard work for Beca.

It was the Hogwarts Headmistress, Professor McGonagall, teaching the class. Strict and principled, those impressions hit Beca deeply during the ceremony. But not until the lesson that she finally experienced the teaching style she was known for.

Slytherins and Gryffindors had the Transfigure lesson together. Beca sat next to the girl talking to Chloe back in the ceremony (Beca remembered her name, Cynthia-Rose Adams, this time). Cynthia-Rose was a humorous girl, and forthright too. By the end of the class, Beca realised they weren't only like-minded in Quidditch, but the similar half-blood family background also pulled them closer too.

Done introducing elementary concepts of Transfigure, Professor McGonagall gave each student a match to turn into a needle during class time. It took Beca one whole hour just altered the colour of the match slightly; Cynthia-Rose’s one did change in its shape; Fat Amy’s match…Beca wasn't so sure if that thing could still be called a ‘match’. And Stacie, within expectation, successfully made the match into a genuine silver needle. Professor McGonagall gave ten points to Slytherin as well as a rare smile to Stacie.

* * *

Things didn’t go well on Potions too.

Though Beca’s step-mother was an excellent witch in the research field of Potions, it didn’t arouse Beca with any interest in Potions.

Professor Horace of Potions class was an aged, roly-poly wizard. He knew the family background of each student like the back of his hand. During the first roll call, he started by asking about Stacie’s parents, followed by mentioning some also reputable parents. When it came to Beca, Professor Horace raised his head from the list and smiled.

“Ahh…yes. Miss Mitchell, how is your mother, Sheila, doing? She is such a remarkable witch, extraordinary in her performance of Potions. Your father is the head of the Research and Development Department of Ministry of Magic, Joseph Mitchell, am I right?”

Beca nodded, Professor Horace did so smilingly.

“I assume you would perform as impressive as your mother, Miss Mitchell.”

Beca crossed her fingers under the table.

Professor Horace then paired up the class into groups of two.

Having Potions with Hufflepuff, Beca was grouped with a Hufflepuff boy. Beca recalled he was one of the two boys fetching Professor Longbottom in Herbology lesson (another one was paired with Stacie, a pale boy named Benjamin). The dark brown short hair and a pair of bright brown eyes of his constantly reminded Beca of the Labrador Retriever of her next-door neighbour. He grinned to Beca and held out his hand.

“Hi, I’m Jesse. Jesse Swanson.”

“Beca”

She released his hand after a gentle squeeze. It was never her thing when it came to over-passionate strangers. Like, _Chloe_.

It brought her mind back to those eyes of sky blue. She shook the daydream out from her brain at once, tried to concentrate on the ingredients of the simple healing potion Professor Horace wrote on the blackboard.

Jesse kept gabbling on and on. Beca didn’t pay much attention, still, knew that despite the boy’s muggle parents, his uncle was a well-known Quidditch player. So, he basically grew on the broom. When he was about to continue regardless of Beca’s unresponsive attitude, she finally scowled at him.

Jesse smirked fearlessly instead, “So, lemme guess. You’re like mysterious, cool and unsocialised. But once you have the glasses and scary earrings removed, the crowd will be stunned by your charm. Right?”

Beca picked up the silver dagger in a blank face and began to chop the bean, “I **_don’t_ **wear glasses.”

“Half-right then.” Jesse had that bright, even dazzling beam on again. He threw the processed beans into the cauldron under Beca’s deadly glower.

Turned out their healing potion scored second to the highest, according to Professor Horace, merely behind Stacie’s group.

Well, perhaps they really got along.

Beca admitted, with much reluctance.

* * *

Apart from that, Beca’s favourite was Defence Against the Dark Arts on every Friday morning.

Teacher in-charge was Edward Lupin. Beca had come across all sort of words on the street of this DADA teacher before the class. Some said his father was the famous Remus Lupin and thus he inherited his father’s lycanthropy. Rumours also said he was, same as her mother Nymphadora Tonks, a Metamorphmagus which could change his appearance at will without casting any charms. The validity of the gossips shall be revealed on the first class on Friday morning.

Edward Lupin was in caramel brown hair and slightly slender shape but quite handsome in fact. He was young — much younger than his colleagues (call me Teddy, please. Professor Lupin sounds so old for me). Yet, the age didn’t limit his expertise in Defence Against the Dark Arts. And this professor had gained Beca’s sincere respect by the end of the first lesson.

Perhaps it was his experience of Auror that Professor Lupin was sophisticated in a wide range of practical defensive spells plus the dark creatures. And, as the rumour went, he was indeed a born Metamorphmagus (in contrast, the gossips of lycanthropy was too much of wild imagination).

He displayed the ability to change his hair of light brown into black Afro one with no spell cast. It won him a room full of applause. He devoted many energies to the teaching, which his style differed a great deal from the methodical manner of Professor McGonagall. His guidance had assisted students in bringing out the best in their ability. The method apparently suited Beca very much. For the first time, Beca surpassed Stacie in lesson performance that she cast an effective Disarming Charm before anyone else. Ten more points went to Slytherin, and Professor Lupin gave a pat of appreciation on Beca’s shoulder.

* * *

Despite everything, the Flying lesson excited Beca the most among all subjects.

Hogwarts had lifted the ban on the first years bringing their flying broom in recent years. In addition, all students, from first-year till the last, were eligible for the joint house Quidditch tryout.

Professor Angelina Johnson, their Flying teacher would be officiating the Quidditch game. She used to be the Chaser and the Captain of Gryffindor in her school days and competed in the League after graduation. She proceeded Professor Hooch’s role after her retirement.

Quidditch was the most popular sports in the wizarding world. For those growing up in wizard family, it was one of those activities they were longing for in Hogwarts.

Long ago when Beca played Quidditch with neighbour’s kids, she had always played as a seeker due to her petite size. But her flying talent and nimbleness brought her to the Snitch every time before Chasers of the opposing team had scored anything (which made her an unwelcome player. Later she learned to let the Snitch fly within her distance of sight then captured it with an easy grab when the kids had enough fun.)

That was why after enrolling in Hogwarts, Beca’s only wish was to join the Quidditch team and play a decent game.

Therefore, when Wednesday morning Professor McGonagall announced that the Quidditch tryout would be held at Friday afternoon, Beca almost sprang from her seats (Amy said she couldn’t understand how this riding-on-a-stick game prompts the excitement in people; then snatched the last muffin smoothly in Beca’s plate).

Beca was polishing her broom, Cleansweep XIX, that night while Stacie briefly swiped her Twigger 90 and immersed in the stacks of books again (Beca thereupon expressed her strong dissatisfaction. The attempt to drag Stacie out of the books triggered a long-absented tangled fight between the two unsurprisingly.)

Time passed unbearably slow until Friday. Beca couldn’t sit still since the Defence Against the Dark Arts early in the morning. Professor Lupin’s word went in one ear and out the other, which rarely took place. Once the bell rang at noon, she hauled Stacie off to the hall for a sloppy lunch. Just when Beca slung her bag over her shoulder and was ready to grab the broomstick, she heard Jesse shouting from behind.

“Hey, Mitchell. You are going to Slytherin’s tryout for the seeker, right?”

Beca turned her head. Jesse was looking at her with a glow of anticipation on his face.

She curved up the corner of the mouth and nodded.

“I’ll catch the Snitch sooner than you do.”

Beca raised an eyebrow.

“Oh yeah? If I get it first, you’ll be digging slugs in the bucket in the coming Potions.”

“Deal.”

Jesse cracked a smile, gave her a big thumbs up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> muggle schools seems a hell lot easier :)


	7. Tryout (1)

“Aubrey, hurry up! We’re gonna be late!”

Chloe pulled Aubrey, dashing down the stairs to the hall, rushing pass the hallway at the first floor to the Quidditch field outdoor.

“Chloe, I don’t see the point of running to here. The season isn't yet started.” Followed Chloe’s lead to an empty seat, Aubrey frowned and asked.

“Didn’t you hear Professor McGonagall? Today is the tryout. Of course we’re going to check out the new, awesome players this year.”

Although Chloe was a muggle-born, a year in Hogwarts had ignited her passion in Quidditch like everyone else. She wasn't doing great on the broomsticks (she already counted herself lucky for hanging on the broom instead of having her face smash onto the ground). But it didn’t cease her interest in the games.

On the contrary, the wizard-born Aubrey felt no affection on Quidditch as Chloe did. But ever since Chloe mentioned Luck Evans would be the Keeper of Ravenclaw, despite her unwilling face, she began to cheer on every match (“Just to keep you accompanied, ’kay Chloe?” She insisted.).

Holding her Cleansweep Nineteen on the right, Beca set foot in the pitch from the changing room.

Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch was equivalent to about two muggle football field. The elongated oval playing area was surrounded by tall stands decorated with house emblems. Beca was aware of the spectators on the stands, quite a number of them to be frank. The students had no compulsory course on Friday afternoon and together with the yet-to-start weekend trip to Hogsmeade, they combined into a rather strong rationale for them to visit the tryout.

Beca stamped on the grassland.

Tough ground, favourable in take-off, but…

Glancing up the sky, the weather was neither very good nor bad. Though there hadn't been rained, the blue sky had vanished behind the thickness of ominous dark clouds. The sighing wind was sweeping across the grass in an increasing tread. While Beca was worrying about the weather, Stacie’s loud yawn intruded. She rolled her eyes.

At the centre of the turf, there were a bunch of students assembled for the trial with their broom. Professor Johnson was instructing the candidates to queue up duly.

Jesse was waiting there with his broom in the fist. He had the trademark smiley face on after noticing Beca. As she walked closer, she spotted the handle was carved with exquisite golden lettering.

“This is Starsweeper XXI! The broomstick of the American National Team!”

Jesse nodded shyly.

“It’s from my uncle as a gift of getting in Hogwarts. Such a die-hard fan of the American Team he is.” He scratched the back of his neck.

“We’re American emigrants,” he made a further remark.

Nodded in acknowledgement, Beca’s sight still lingered on that gorgeous broomstick (a thought suddenly flashed through her mind that her Cleansweep Nineteen was kind of outdated. Yet, she was pretty certain her skills weren't lagging behind Jesse’s).

Professor Johnson blew a blast on the silver whistle, kick-started the tryout.

It had been a new practice that the four houses hold the tryout in unison during the third week of September. The houses would announce the open positions beforehand.

Chaser was the first position for trial.

Other students sat on the stands during this session.

Accounted for the vast majority in the team, Chaser was the position with the most contenders. Every student must score as much as possible out of ten shoots under a Keeper’s presence. The teams would decide the results according to their performance.

Beca and Jesse leaned on the headrail, looking at the aligned Chaser competitors up in the air. Ordered by Professor Johnson, they came up one by one. Beca noticed Cynthia-Rose among the row behind Stacie. They were commenting on the contestants.

As specified by Jesse the chatterbox, the Keeper in the tryout right now was known as the finest one in Hogwarts over the past decade — Luck Evans of Ravenclaw.

After a quick glimpse, Beca quickly put him under the category of popular kids at school. He had lush golden hair, mint green iris, the hunky face together with that muscular build of a Quidditch Keeper. No wonder when he made his appearance, it provoked a violent outburst of screams from the stand (Beca gave an annoyed rolling-eye while Luke waved to the fangirls).

And so, out of Beca’s expectation, her eyes caught a familiar glaring vermilion upon the bleachers where Luke waved at.

She steadied the gaze.

Sure enough that bouncing reddish fireball wrapped in exhilaration was Chloe.

Beca’s heart was palpitating.

Next to Chloe was that blonde always appeared by her side (Aubrey? Auberle? She wasn't that good with names) Beca noted that that girl was inattentive as it might seem, but her eyes locked like a magnet on Luke hovering around the hoops.

Chloe whooped and clapped whenever a Chaser had a goal, or Luke blocked a Quaffle shot.

Beca found her eyes stick tight to the radiant Chloe.

Ever since the encounter at the Dining Hall on the first day, they didn’t have much chance to chat. They greeted hardly a few times passing by on the corridor so far. Alongside this, the only time Beca could peek from Slytherin side to Gryffindor table was at mealtimes. Their eyes met across the crowd occasionally, then Chloe would always throw that grin, making Beca’s heart skipped a beat.

But being a Gryffindor second-year and a Slytherin first-year, their timetables had nothing in common. It was nothing easy for Beca to run into her on the campus. Though she had never pondered why, she knew whenever she shuttled between classes to classes, there was a little hope sparking in her heart…

…hoping to meet that red-hair girl somewhere around the corner.

“Hey, who’s that ginger gal?” Jesse’s voice rang in her ear in a sudden. That was the time when Beca realised Chloe had caught her eye for some moments. She adjusted and retracted the sight back on Jesse.

“Excuse me?’

Jesse lifted an eyebrow.

“Seriously? Beca? That’s you Oscar-winning acting?” His uplifting mouth corner completed the unbelievable look.

Beca chose to play dumb and veered the attention to the tryout. Jesse tutted aside.

“Shut up Swanson.”

Finally, it was Stacie’s turn.

The first shot was blocked by Luke right away. After a brief evaluation of wind direction, Stacie did a little trick on the second shoot, which made a detour to avoid Luke’s defence and straight to the hoop.

Beca cheered and Jesse applauded.

“Dude, that's **DOPE**!” It did surprise Jesse.

Beca smiled. Stacie’s pretty face and curvy body shape often gave out a false impression that she wasn't more than eye candy. But the fact was, Stacie was a high achiever regardless of academic or sports.

She scored seven out of ten, which was one of the best among the Chaser — even better than most senior students. It was assured that she would be one of the Slytherin Team.

Beca sensed her sweating palm. Though she had much faith in her ability, her mind started spinning. _What if my optimism jinxes it?_

Finally, the tryout for Chasers was done and dusted. Cynthia-Rose from Gryffindor shot six goals after Stacie, which was quite excellent.

After that, it was Beater's round that had fewer students attended.

Soon Beater’s session had come to an end. It was the Keeper’s turn. At long last…

“Students trying out for Seekers, gather around the pitch now please.” The magnifier passed Professor Johnson’s voice to students on site.

Beca gulped nervously and had her hands on the broom. She followed Jesse’s step from the stand to the centre of the pitch.

There were only a handful of contestants of Seeker — merely a dozen. Beca was studying her other Slytherin opponents, including a fifth-year in a sullen expression and a first-year looking as if he was about to faint in any moment.

Professor Johnson raised her right hand. The waggling Snitch she grasped instantly attracted all attention on the pitch.

“Tryout for Seeker is simple — I’ll pair you up — be the first catches the Snitch in the group.”

The candidates nodded in acknowledgement. 

“Now, the first group: Beca Mitchell and Jesse Swanson.”

Beca and Jesse exchanged a knowing look.

Their rivalry had come sooner than expected.

They proceeded to Professor Johnson. Beca heard Fat Amy and Stacie screamed from the grandstand (“ **Knock him off da fricking broom, Beca!** ”). On top of that, she thought she might also hear another faint cheer in her name by Chloe.

“On your broom.” Professor Johnson shouted through the howling wind and was about to blow the silver whistle.

Beca clambered onto her Cleansweep Nineteen briskly. The joints were whitened over the firm grip on the stick.

“Mitchell, don’t forget our bet!” Jesse reminded.

Beca had already zeroed in on that flapping walnut-sized golden ball.

Once Professor Johnson loosened her palm, the golden ball escaped her field of sight within a blink.

Then, beep——

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay and cliffhanger!! I've been fighting with deadlines in the past week and Dobby is now FREE to continue here! (frick you assignments!!!)
> 
> As for the cliffhanger, this chapter is too long to post in one sitting (most importantly, I haven't finished the second part :D). The rest will be here by the end of this week. I promise.  
> \---  
> B


	8. Tryout (2)

Beca and Jesse leapt up with all their strength. The two brooms rose sky-high together.

The wind drifted Beca’s Cleansweep Nineteen somewhat sideways. It cost her a great effort to fly at this altitude overlooking the entire ground. Jesse did likewise. They hovered over the pitch, hoping to detect the Snitch before another one did.

Flapping and fluttering, from the sky afar flitted flocks of owls delivering mails. They came in different sizes. Some were holding letters by the beak; others were attached with packages on their feet.

The wind roared. Beca stabilized her broom at once. At the same time, the corner of her eyes captured a ray of shiny golden shade near the stilt of a goalpost. Without a second thought, she flew towards the pillar.

So did Jesse. He located the Snitch and raced to the same point too. So, Beca didn't get a head start over Jesse. As soon as she sped up, a squeak pierced through the howling wind behind her.

She was distracted. Looked around, a dainty owl was blowing away from its flock to the most notorious plant in Hogwarts, the Whomping Willow!

Beca listened to her instinct, swooped to the Whomping Willow. She could hear the audience cried, but it mattered no more. Right now, the little owl dodging to survive was her only target.

One after another, she kept ducking from the attacks. She weaved among the striking limbs and whacking branches, seeking a way out. A gap flickered. Beca seized the chance and dived for their lives.

She flew out of Whomping Willow’s attack range in a twinkling.

When she finally landed, despite all the scratches left by the twigs, big and small, she had that warm fluffy ball clasping in her arm.

Professor Johnson and a pack of students rushed towards her.

“Miss Mitchell, th-that’s way too risky!” Professor Johnson exclaimed startlingly. The students nearby were going to inform Professor Pomfrey under her instruction. 

The little owl in Beca’s arms whirred.

“You’d better sent it to Professor Grubbly-Plank. Make sure it’s fine.”

Beca agreed.

She held tight of the tiny owl and tried to get herself up with the free arm.

_Crack——_

Beca watched her Cleansweep Nineteen broke into half from the handle tip.

“Oh noooo…!”

It appeared she didn't dodge all the attacks. Beca sensed something wrong with the broomstick during landing, but she didn't expect that bad.

Stacie helped her to get to her feet.

“Bec, we're going to the hospital wing.” She said softly but firmly.

“I’ll deliver this furry-purry baby to Professor Grubbly-Plankly for ya,” Fat Amy offered and took over the owl from the overwhelming Beca.

Beca had no idea how did she walk to the hospital wing.

Madam Pomfrey was an expert at healing magic but was very possessive of her patients. After consuming the healing potion, Beca was required to rest on a bed and was allowed only two visitors.

Stacie brought along with the broom fragments. She was accompanied by Jesse, who looked extremely sorry.

“At least you get the Snitch, huh?” Beca could no longer stand with the dead silence and broke it.

Jesse nodded.

“Great.”

“Hey, you looked so cool fighting with Whomping Willow, you know?” he tried to comfort.

Beca looked away.

According to Stacie, that Mr Sullen-face from Slytherin captured the Snitch in his group. And as Beca was defeated by Jesse, she caught nothing.

“I’m not gonna make it.” The idea made her collapse onto the soft mattress and sank feebly.

Five minutes passed. Madam Pomfrey turfed Stacie and Jesse out. She didn't return to her office until she had Beca drink another dose of potion. Beca laid still on the bed, staring vacantly at the ceiling in the thick darkness. It would be a long lonely night in the hospital.

Quidditch was the activity she anticipated the most in Hogwarts. Yet now, besides the failure in the tryout, her broom was also ruined.

The tears were building up at the corners of her eyes.

“Hey,” someone whispered in her ear.

She almost jumped from the bed. Fortunately, a glance at the auburn hair ceased her intention to scream on top of her lung. On Chloe’s hand was a wand with a shimmering tip; on her lips a smirk.

“ _What are you doin’ here?_ ” Beca breathed and stealthily wiped the tears off.

That smiley face didn’t fade away because of the question. Instead, Chloe sat by the edge of the bed spontaneously.

“To visit you! But Madam Pomfrey only allows two visitors, so I was hiding in another room. Then I sneaked out after lights-out.” She was plainly proud of her deeds.

Beca raised an eyebrow. She couldn't understand why Chloe risk that much just to visit her, but it did cast her gloom away.

“Can’t it be fixed?” Chloe pointed at the wreckage of the broomstick.

Beca confirmed her thought.

“I’m so sorry.” She said, with a tender squeeze of Beca’s right hand. Her thumb flickered the back of her hand back and forth.

For a fleeting moment, Beca felt as if that hand wasn't hers.

A snort was proceeded by the stillness in the air.

“But I must say, you were so, so brave today.” Chloe said gently and didn’t stop with her hands, “you’re such an amazing player.”

There was deep sincerity in her tone, but it didn't stop Beca from making a wry comment, “yeah, it would be _amazing_ if that owl was a Snitch.”

“You’ll make it.”

Beca blanked for a second, looked up into Chloe’s eyes.

The ocean blue was gazing upon her.

“I say, you will make it.”

“How could you possibly know? You’re not even a Slytherin.” Beca challenged her.

Chloe replied in a singing tone, “ _I. Just. Knew._ ”

Beca was well aware that Chloe was trying to brighten her, but somehow she started to grow faith in her words.

She curved her lips.

“Thank you, Chloe.”

“Welcome as always, Beca.”

Gosh, that heart-racing smile again.

* * *

Stacie and Fat Amy were there to pick her up when Beca was leaving on the following day. Madam Pomfrey refused to discharge her before confirming she was fully recovered. The trio was about to have breakfast, but a bunch of students were packing in front of the notice board, midway to Dining Hall.

“It’s out! The tryout result!”

Beca’s eyes were wide open, looking to Stacie’s direction. Stacie shrugged her shoulders over the announcement.

Fat Amy pushed and divided the crowd, like Moses parted the Red Sea, creating a path that led the three to the board.

“Slytherin Team, Chaser — Stacie Conard…” Beca high-fived with Stacie in a great smile, then her finger kept moving along the list of names. “…Keeper — Owen Nelson, Seeker —” Her finger paused on the name.

“— Beca Mitchell!”

Beca couldn't hold back her cheer, “Oh my Merlin’s bread! I’ve made it!”

“I bet the team is impressed by your terrific fight against Whomping Willow.” Stacie gave her another high-five gladly before Fat Amy picked Beca up and spun. Beca giggled. Not until Fat Amy let her feet down on the ground did she spot Chloe, who was witnessing the celebration cheerfully not far away.

Beca ran to her immediately.

“Chloe! I’m in. I made it!”

“Told you!” Even so, a smile grew deep on Chloe’s face and her arms wrapped around Beca for a big hug.

Beca let herself indulge in Chloe’s embrace. Her body was stiff for a second as she wasn't quite a cuddler. But somehow the scent of pearwood on Chloe relaxed Beca bit by bit.

When Chloe released, a hint of disappointment welled up in her heart. Still, she managed to smile back at Chloe.

“Bec, I'm hungry!” Stacie yelled from her back. When Beca turned, she discovered Stacie and Fat Amy’s mischievous grin on their lips.

“ _Or, did you feed yourself up just now?_ ” Fat Amy blinked suggestively.

Beca could tell right now her face was redder than a tomato.

She tugged the two already cracked in laughter out into the hall at the very next moment. Just before she left, her eyes met Chloe’s.

“Thank you.” She mouthed.

All she could see was the warm happiness grew from deep inside of the cerulean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I come, I come along with explosive. The cliff is bombarded into dust and ash. O rise! Ye gentlemen and ladies fair. Ye will rest on a grassland so green and lively. Prepare _as I might hang ye back someday_ :D  
> \---  
> B


	9. Rivalry

Another surprise revealed itself on the dining table the next day morning.

The owls of morning delivery flooded into the hall as usual, flying to their owners with parcels or letters.

A slender package carried by a total of six owls held up everybody’s gaze. Beca recognised the leading one was her eagle owl — Rosie. By the time they glided onto Slytherin table and dropped the package, she found herself had been encircled by a curious crowd. Her owl nibbled Beca’s finger and then took off after taking a few sips of Beca’s orange juice.

“Open it, Mitchell.”

Stacie from across the table was unwrapping the parcel.

Beca already had an idea of the contents judging by its shape. Still, the moment when a spanking new castaneous broomstick laid bare on the brown paper, she couldn't hold back the gasp of amazement.

“The latest model used in the national team — Thunderbolt VII!” A boy muttered under his breath.

She lovingly stroked the glossy surface. The handle was gold-inscribed which wrote: Thunderbolt VII. As for the tail, the twigs were streamlined and bounded.

“Mamma mia! This baby is simply a Bella like me.” Even Fat Amy, who lacked interests in Quidditch, stopped wolfing down her food and dropped a compliment.

There was a note underneath, written in that neat and familiar handwriting:

> _My dear Beca,_
> 
> _Congratulations on your well-deserved success. Sheila and I are so overjoyed hearing your good news. Your mother would surely be proud of you too._
> 
> _Love always,  
> _
> 
> _Dad_

Beca fixed her eyes at Stacie, who managed to drink tea in a stiff face. The latter finally surrendered under the death glare.

“Ya right. It’s me telling my dad, and it passed to your dad. You got me, happy?”

The next blink Beca had her fist bumping hard onto Stacie’s shoulder.

“You cunning Conard!” On the contrary, it was a big grin on her face.

Stacie fought back in protest. The duo thus began romping at Slytherin table. Only until Stacie pinned Beca back on her seat by her size advantage had Beca stopped giggling.

“Thanks, Stacie.” That was what she really meant.

Stacie was about to sip the black tea so she simply replied with a humph and raised mouth corners.

* * *

Beca couldn't wait to drag the unwilling Stacie to the first Quidditch training in advance.

“Bec, it’s at least _half an hour_ before the training starts.” Stacie groaned.

To flee from Stacie’s complaint, Beca quickly took off with a thrust on the grassland.

Tough as thunder, brisk as the bolt. Thunderbolt performed exactly as its name suggested — swooped precisely to wherever Beca wanted even under gales. She sped up then braked. The broom didn't fail her but fulfilled her wishes by the mildest touch. Soaring between the stands, she immersed herself in the thrill of flying.

“Ayy, Mitchell, come down.” It was Jonasson Rookwood[1], the Captain of Slytherin Team.

Beca landed on the ground. Jonasson smiled with shimmer in his eyes.

“We’ve got ourselves the right seeker.” He gave Beca a thumbs-up.

Beca chucked with a smudge of rosy blush climbing onto her cheeks.

The first training went smooth and fruitful. With the help of the new broom, Beca caught the Snitch quicker than usual, kept up with every instruction and accomplished every tactic.

By the end of the session, all members were covered in sweats and exhaustion. Nevertheless, they left with satisfaction.

On the way Beca and her teammates back to the castle, they met the Hufflepuffs heading to the pitch. Jonasson greeted to their Captain out of courtesy. Yet, a brown-haired second-year deliberately raised his volume so that Beca could hear, “I truly wish the Slytherin seeker won’t break another broom before the match.”

The sarcasm was met with peals of laughter. The rudeness, in return, was retorted with seven pairs of fire-spitting glowering eyes.

“Bumper, don’t.” The Captain shook his head, but Beca knew he didn‘t mean to stop him. As the newbie of the team, Jesse could do nothing more than wearing an upset face behind the boys.

“Let’s go, Bec. Let the idiots rot in stupidity.” Stacie darted a glare at the Hufflepuffs entertaining by their joke and pulled Beca out of this nonsense.

“Oi, Mitchell. Watch out for strong wind, will ya? What if the referee can't find this wee hun missing by the time she’s hanging on the willow?” Bumper yelled at their back and ended in a bunch of laughter. The rage in Beca drove her in sending two middle fingers in return.

* * *

“I **HATE** Hufflepuff.”

Beca took the Quidditch gloves off, flung it down on the bench. She slumped next to the gloves, irritated.

“Tough training?” Fat Amy asked.

“Nah, we bumped into Hufflepuff Team on the way back. They umm…teased about her body size.” Stacie explained, then turned to Beca who was staring at the empty plate as minutes before.

“Aww, don’t, Beca. You know it’s not how every Hufflepuff behaves. Like my Potions buddy Benjamin, I mean, Benji, he's a really nice dude.”

“That's because Benji is probably the most kind-hearted person in Hogwarts. You know Jesse once told me Benji is bullied by those jerks too? But he never, **never** fights back.” Beca was still on the warpath. Staring at the table full of dishes, she had no appetite to enjoy any. Not even the pudding.

“Hey, how’s ya first trainin’?” Cynthia-Rose sat opposite to Beca, unaffected by the weird look projected from Gryffindor.

“Terrible.” Beca stood up, “I’m not hungry. See ya in dorm.”

She heard Cynthia-Rose whispered, “what happened?”

But she just stormed out the hall without looking back.

* * *

Jesse Swanson had always been the friendly boy in everyone’s eye. He was humorous, cheerful and loyal to friends. Practically everybody could befriend with him the second they met. To sum up, he was basically the role model of Hufflepuff, according to every single person that knew him. And he had always taken pride in these acclaims. Shortly after joining Hufflepuff, he had been friends with another first-year in the dorm, Benjamin Applebaum.

Benjamin (“You can call me Benji.”) was a gentle and likeable guy. Jesse sometimes worried he was too innocent for the place like Hogwarts.

Benji was a half-blood. His mother was a remarkable witch in terms of Herbology, while his father was a muggle employed by a small firm in London. He also had a sister in the age of six whom he talked about all day long. To quotes his own words, she was “naturally and excellently gifted”. He lagged behind in other subjects except for Herbology. The innate talent of Herbology aided him in surpassing Stacie Conard, the walking encyclopaedia, as well as gaining Professor Longbottom’s praises.

Benji was as amiable as they came. Unfortunately, that was the exact reason why he got targeted. 

The majority of Hufflepuffs were good-natured like what Jesse imagined, but by the second glance, turned out not all of them were that approachable.

The gang led by the second-year Bumper Allen was the last group of people Jesse would like to run into.

They were mainly Hufflepuff Quidditch team and so Jesse had to deal with them during training. Their vice of tormenting and teasing the weak was what he disgusted the most.

One time, Bumper and the boys caught Benji hanging around on his own. Next, his books and homework ended up in the gooey fertilizer by the greenhouse. Benji scrubbed the dirt and worm corpses throughout the entire afternoon, but they wouldn’t come off. And since he handed in the Transfiguration essay stank of dragon dung to Professor McGonagall, he was given detention.

The anger had yet to appeased when Jesse was narrating the unfairness Benji received. Benji never fought against the bullies. When stuff happened, he just wore a wry smile and shrug it off, then continued discussing the upcoming match season with Jesse.

* * *

“You know what, sometimes I don’t feel like the shabby hat had done its job right,” Jesse commented while adding chopped daisy root into the cauldron.

“Yeah, look at me. Who the heck would believe a half-blood me is actually from Slytherin, the House of Pureblood? I swear I can hear Salazar Slytherin cursing me underground every night I lie in bed,” she mocked as she stirred the potion.

“I don’t think you’re those typical Slytherins either,” Jesse stared.

Beca paused, looked at Jesse.

“You know, Swanson, perhaps we shouldn’t judge one by their house in the first place.”

En route to Quidditch pitch, Beca’s words kept flashing on Jesse’s mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1 Jonasson Rookwood- related to Augustus Rookwood. A death eater who used to work in the Department of Mysteries. He was betrayed by Karkaroff, and this was how he was found out to be a death eater. He went to Azkaban, but escaped with the mass breakout in Book 5. He fought in the Department of Mysteries in Book 5 for Voldemort. [Back]  
> \---  
> The British story setting is mixed with the American cast. This combination gives me an endless headache in deciding the variety the characters speak and how I narrate. This chapter, I've made Bumper sound more British than the others (it reminds me of Vex in Lost Girl somehow). Not sure if this is a successful attempt (I suck at imitating English accents/varieties, all of them), or if it's a wise idea at all. So, your feedback is so, so, so valuable to me! Let me know how you think about it or everything here :)  
> \---  
> B


	10. Tension

It was already late October. Almost two months glided by without anyone noticing.

Beca started growing used to every ray of morning sunshine dazzling through the lake to the dorm; started locating every classroom correctly without losing herself on the moving staircases; started craving for every stomach-bursting meal at the Dining Hall; started getting used to every trace of grassy scent on the pitch; started enjoying every breath-taking magic lessons (well, maybe DADA only. Others were _literally_ taking her breath away).

She started hoping to see that red shade at every corner of the campus, once again.

Since joining the Quidditch team, Beca had spent every evening at the pitch, watching the largest burning star set and gave rise to thousands of others, those twinkling smaller ones. The first match was approaching, making the team practise more than usual. Though Stacie often grumbled the extra practice had occupied all her study hour, Beca knew during the match, she was no less ambitious than any teammates.

The opening match of her house and the school was Slytherin versus Ravenclaw. It boosted up the excitement as well as tension within the campus. One visible change was every student on the corridors was chit-chatting about this coming event. Additionally, Ravenclaw seemed raring to witness their team beating the ass of the most unfavoured house of the school, Slytherin. Nine out of ten when Beca walked pass Ravenclaws, she could feel tides of hostility tempted to drown her.

What was more, one time she was nearly knocked down by some screaming Ravenclaw third-years. As she was on their way to the celebrity player, Luke Evans, on the other end of the hallway (“Honestly, you’re kinda too small, Beca,” Fat Amy commented and was unsurprisingly thumped by Beca).

* * *

It was a Friday afternoon, one week before the match. Beca and Jesse had completed the Potions homework and was about to leave the library. She spotted a flash of Titian, next, the wisp of pearwood scent recalled her of that one girl. She turned at once. The one passed by was Chloe that she missed for these days. She was of course accompanied by that blonde Ravenclaw second-year.

“Beca! It’s been a long time,” Chloe beamed in the usual way she did to Beca. The oceanic blue was gazing upon Beca.

She smiled back. It had been a really, really long time since she last saw Chloe.

“Hi, I’m Jesse. Hufflepuff first-year and Beca’s Potions partner.” The two appeared to be indulging in the long-awaited reunion. So Jesse greeted Aubrey who was also stuck in the similar awkwardness.

Aubrey hesitated before shaking Jesse’s hand.

“Aubrey, Aubrey Posen. Second-year of Ravenclaw.” She curved her lips. The boy’s grin was radiant and warmer than she expected.

Chloe finally retreated her sight from Beca to Jesse, still smiling.

“Hi, I’m Chloe. Second-year of Gryffindor.” She shook hand with Jesse too. He smirked, growing interests in the enthusiasm Chloe shown to Beca. After a few blinks, his face was all glowing and shared to Beca his discovery, “Hey, Beca. Look, we four are from the four different houses!”

“Ha. That’s awesome.” Beca agreed, ironically.

She realised the less friendliness expressed by Chloe’s friends. It could be easily told by their look on her and the flimsy pretexts they used to call Chloe away whenever Beca was around. Beca guessed it was because she was a Slytherin and other three houses loathe Slytherin (Alright, there were exceptions, such as this Jesse giggling like an idiot beside her right now). The upcoming match, to a Ravenclaw, just provided another reason to hate on Beca.

Chloe obviously sensed the discomfort of Aubrey. “So, wish you the best in the next match then.” She winked then followed Aubrey into the library.

“Wow, that’s so nice of her. I mean, her friend is Ravenclaw right?” Jesse asked while watching they left.

Beca shrugged. Her eyes fixed on Chloe who was fading into the crowd.

* * *

“Chloe, how can y- she is our rival!” Once stepping out of Beca’s audible range, Aubrey immediately questioned Chloe, who was searching for books on the shelves.

Chloe heaved a sigh. She understood it mattered a lot to Aubrey hence stopped everything on her hands.

“Aubrey, she is my friend. I just wished her good luck.”

“Yeah right. However, Chloe, she is a Slytherin.” Aubrey’s penetrating gaze was prowling over Chloe’s face ablaze with joy. “You have to be cautious of Slytherin. Whenever they have a chance, they'll stab you at the back, always.”

Chloe tilted her head in disbelief.

“By the way, don’t tell me you're gonna cheer for her next week. You’ve promised me to cheer for us, for Ravenclaw.”

“I know! Chill out, Aubrey, I'll go with you.” Her voice tailed off. A mischievous spark glinted in her eyes, “and, if I don’t, who else will keep you company when you’re eyeing up the delicious Luke Evans?” She then nudged Aubrey whose face went scarlet suddenly.

“ ** _Chloe!_** ”

“Girls, this is a library, not a playground!” Madam Prince sneaked behind them and warned. She scanned the girls up and down with narrowed eyes before moving on to the next bookshelf. Aubrey wished the ground could swallow her out of the embarrassment while Chloe chuckling over her friend’s reaction.

Surely Aubrey was smart and mature due to the high family expectation. But when it came to love and romance, she and any 18-year-old girl behaved much alike — hardly knew what to do but blush.

And Chloe loved to joke about that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's wait and see Beca's performance _literally_ next week!


	11. Victory

After holding everyone in eager anticipation for weeks, the match between Ravenclaw and Slytherin finally commenced in the Saturday afternoon.

Almost every Hogwarts students flooded into the pitch. The Slytherins clothed in green and silver; some painted their faces in those colours in additional. Up in the air slithering and blistering were the serpent-shaped fireworks shooting from the audience seats. On the other side, the Ravenclaws’ block was styled in blue and bronze. The madly waving eagle flags were their return strike to Slytherin’s mania.

Aubrey scanned the faces, finally sighted the auburn-haired girl squeezing through the crowd and sat beside her. At the first glance, Chloe dressed nothing less than a typical Ravenclaw supporter — a blue eagle flag in her grasp, blue and bronze paint on her cheeks, but…

“Chloe, you…” She lost her words over the green and silver striped scarf Chloe wore.

Chloe smiled a mischievous grin.

“But she is also my friend!” She said innocently.

Aubrey sighed. She knew it was useless to argue further when Chloe gave the “puppy eyes” look.

She looked back at the field. John Bagman[1], the commenter, had just introduced the Ravenclaw Team. Hurray from all audience (except Slytherins) greeted the appearance of Ravenclaw players steered by the seventh-year captain. They were like a well-trained army, soared around the pitch then, synchronously, halted at the centre of the field. In which the celebrity player of Ravenclaw, Luke Evans, had captured the eyes and hearts of every single girl down there.

“LUKE!”

“I LOVE YOU LUKE!”

“OH LUKE!”

“YOU ARE MY HERO!”

The screams of his name and love confession rung and echoed from the grandstand.

Bagman continued to introduce the Slytherin Team. Unlike Ravenclaw, their Captain as well as Beater, Jonasson, first led the three Chaser — Stacie, Jackson Moor[2] and Hannah Rosier[3], flashed past the audience. Their entrance was met with a round of applause from Slytherin (mixed with the boos from the other three houses). After they paused opposite to Ravenclaw, the new Keeper of Slytherin, Owen, and another Beater, Rodger Bode[4] dashed like bullets, scratching through the cool air. They flew across each other, which looked like drawing a gigantic cross on the sky (meanwhile, the hurray of Slytherins eventually drowned out the boos) and stopped behind the Captain.

“Last but not least, the Slytherin Seeker that has been our topic of the week —” Chloe gave a little giggle over the title. “— Beca Mitchell!”

As Beca soaring into the game, Chloe brandished her green and silver scarf and yelled Beca’s name, ignoring the fact that all Ravenclaws nearby wanted her dead.

Watching her bestie bouncing like a three-year-old, Aubrey buried her face in palm. What’s wrong with her for Merlin’s sake?

Beca stopped by the left of Jonasson. Waiting in front of her was the Ravenclaw Seeker — Kelvin Boot[5]. His size was quite small for a second-year. That was most probably the reason he was chosen for this position. 

After the handshake between two Captains, Professor Johnson kicked open the box by her side. The Snitch zigzaged then flashed past into disappearance. Next, two Bludgers rushed into the mid-air. Beca crossed her fingers, hoping that Slytherin Beaters could keep these two round beasts far from her reach.

The strategy Jonasson prepared against Ravenclaw was keeping Beca out of the turmoil at all costs. Seeing as the three Ravenclaw Chaser were quite excellent indeed (“The truth is, they contributed a large sum in winning the Quidditch Cup last year”), plus Owen was a freshman; Slytherin was overshadowed in terms of defence. Besides, Ravenclaw had the best Keeper in Hogwarts, Luke (“No further comment. You’ve seen enough in the tryout”). That added extra difficulty for them to score. So Jonasson told Beca beforehand to quicken the search of the Snitch. The longer the match lasted, the more unfavourable the situation was.

Professor Johnson tossed the Quaffle up and gave a loud blast of whistle.

The six Chasers dashed to the Quaffle from all directions. Beca quickly lifted the broom up to escape from this chaos. She planned to play similarly as in the tryout — circling at a great height and hunting for the sign of that golden shade.

“Woah. Eyes on the Mitchell's broomstick, fellas. It’s the only model that can rival Fire Supreme — Thunderbolt VII! Its power…”

“Bagman, commentary!”

“A little of background info hurts no one, Professor. Okay, so now Slytherin Chaser Conard gains the Quaffle — nice dodge away from Ravenclaws and up to the goalposts, shoot and — miss! Luke Evans blocks with an excellent swoop!”

The pitchside exploded with deafening cheers. Viewing from distant, the rapturous Ravenclaw fans and a raging torrent were much alike. Both roaring in vigour.

Beca’s heart sunk. Jonasson was right — Luke was an unbreakable fortress. Moreover, Stacie was by far the best Chaser they got with the highest expected goals. If she couldn’t break it through, they would be struggling as underdog without a doubt.

“Quaffle is now taken by Ravenclaw Chaser Hilliard. Patil and Gifford cling behind. A Bludger delivery is on her way, sent by Slytherin Rookwood — but was rejected by Platt from Ravenclaw! A clear field ahead — it’s a good sign. Off she goes to the post. Alright, come on, shoot and — GOAL! RAVENCLAW SCORES!”

As the scoreboard displayed, Ravenclaw was ahead by ten. Frowning, Beca had to buckle down in search of the Snitch. Meanwhile, Ravenclaw gained ten more points as Slytherin fumbled a catch. Worse still, Ravenclaw gained a penalty due to the disturbance from Beater during shooting.

Even though Slytherin exerted themselves in sending two Quaffles through the posts, the attacks of Ravenclaw was so fierce that it went to a lopsided score of 20-100.

Far up above the worrying scene, Beca hovered back and forth. Every Ravenclaw goal had inflamed her desire to win further, as well as anxiety. The back of her neck was burning under the scorching hot sunshine. A while later, finally, when Luke made another pass of Quaffle to Patil, a streak of gold flashed across a stand packed with Ravenclaw fans. There it was. Even under the brightest daylight, she was confident that was what she panted after for the entire afternoon. She veered around, dived towards the stand. Ravenclaw Seeker Kelvin had seen it too. He lunged, but fell behind.

Beca paid no attention on her opponent, but turtled. Thanks to her Thunderbolt VII, she was only an inch away from her target in no time. Her first instinct was to lower the broom, craned forward and stretched her arm. All she could see was the fluttering golden ball; all she could think of was the metallic touch on her fingertips…

WHIZ! She heard a sudden wind whistling nearby.

Her heart skipped. A Bludger!

Without a second thought, the swift reflexes of Beca had urged her to act. With a violent twist on the broomstick, she arced gracefully around the Bludger. The entire crowd gasped. Chloe even popped up from her seat and shrieked piercingly, despite Aubrey’s protest. Beca wasn't safe yet. There was the second Bludger careering onto her back. She was somewhat overbalanced because of the last swerve, which left her too little time to sheer off again. In her haste to evade, she leaned on her instinct once more and dived. Her whole body was pressing against the broom. The pressure was so vigorous that she rotated around the broomstick. She did save herself from the flying cannonball but resulted in crash landing (or missile strike to be precise) into Ravenclaw’s stand. Reassurance that the students had fled sideways at the first shot. Beca was thus plunged into the vacant seats.

Stunned, of all the audience, players and even Bagman were now silent as the grave. After a few seconds, they started digesting what happened a moment ago. All stared at the stand which had turned into a horrible mess, holding their breath, until…

…a left hand reached out from the chaotic pile of seats.

Inside her fist, it was that flapping gold sphere.

“Mitchell has the Snitch! 170 to 100, SLYTHERIN WINS!”

Before Bagman could finish the sentence, the commentary had been submerged in the formidable exclamations and cracking fireworks. Her teammates settled beside her. Stacie jumped off the broom, laughed at Beca whose back was still on the seats full of clutter.

“Really, Mitchell? _That dramatic?_ ”

Jonasson rubbed her head (“Nice one, Mitchell”). Here also came Jackson, Hannah, Owen and Rodger (“That Bludger-dodging was bloody brilliant!”) patting her arm, and grabbed her from the ground.

The second she gained a foothold, a reddish shade nearly threw her back to the ground again.

“I knew it! I just knew you could make it!”

Chloe’s voice came, muffled, from Beca’s shoulders. She cracked a smile, flaunted her trophy of the game when Chloe lifted her head.

“I gotta show you I’m a better Snitch seeker than an owl seeker,” she teased.

Chloe beamed. Beca’s mind immediately went astray from whatever she intended to say, and fell deep into the sparkling, smiling blue eyes.

“Hey Michell, you little… Opps, wrong timing.” Jesse called from behind. Beca slipped away with face heated up when she found herself still indulging in Chloe’s arms. Chloe laughed and released her.

She picked the broom up and tried to wear a poker face. However, the annoying smirks of Jesse and Stacie had said it all.

“Seal your mouths, or I’ll do it for you.” She warned while walking pass the two.

“We’ve said nothing, Mitchell.”

But their chuckle resonated and made into the already reddened ears of Beca’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1 **John Bagman** \- related to **Ludovic "Ludo" Bagman**. Head of the department of magical games and sports in the ministry of magic before fleeing at the end of the 4th book. He was an international Quidditch player (Beater) for the Wimbourne Wasps. While on the team, they won 3 strait league championships. He was the commenter at the Quidditch World Cup and the Triwizard Tournament. He kept trying to give Harry tips on the Triwizard tournament because he bet that Harry would win. He was also charged as a death eater while still in his Quidditch days, but got out of it by saying that the death eater was an old family friend, and he had no idea he was a death eater. [Back]  
>   
> 2 **John Moor** \- related to **Bodmin Moor**. The golden snitch evaded capture for six months on him in 1884, and both teams gave up because of the poor skills of their seekers. [Back]  
>   
> 3 **Hannah Rosier** \- related to **Rosier family** , one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. Relatives include **Druella Rosier** who married a great-grandson of Phineas Nigellus Black. Her children were Bellatrix (Black) Lestrange, Andromeda (Black) Tonks, and Narcissa (Black) Malfoy. [Back]  
>   
> 4 **Rodger Bode** \- related to **Broderick Bode**. An unspeakable in the Ministry of Magic who works for the Department of Mysteries. He was found dead at 49 in St. Mungo’s strangled by a deadly plant; Devil’s Snare. He was bewitched by Lucius Malfoy to remove the weapon. [Back]  
> 5 **Kelvin Boot** \- related to Terry Boot. A Ravenclaw in Harry’s year who joined the D.A. He was one of the D.A. member who helped with the ambush of Malfoy on the Hogwarts express in Book 6. [Back]  
> \---  
> Shoutout to chily_flame whose work keeps me giggling in the bathroom at 3am. A truly epic one and that's EXACTLY what I wish the post-canon of DWP would be!  
> Link to the work >>> [Small Favors (Miranda Priestly/Andrea Sachs)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2793701/chapters/6270377)  
> \---  
> B


	12. Halloween

Jack-O lantern flickered, and live bats fluttered. Beca looked at the decorations of the hall, shook her head in disbelief.

“Halloween is really a thing here, huh?” She turned to seek agreement from Stacie, who was finishing the last paragraph of the Potions essay.

“Mm-hmm.” The question was too insignificant to distract her from the assignments.

Beca stared at the parchment as blank as her brain, pursing her lips. She never understood how come Stacie could ace every class and the homework. Without Jesse’s help, hardly could she squeeze a complete paragraph for the essay. Just when Beca need him the most, today happened to be the Quidditch practice day of Hufflepuff. Sadly, Stacie refused to let Beca copy her work (“It’s for your own good, Beca. How could you learn without trying on your own?”).

Fine, all by myself then.

She sighed, sat the chin on her palm and flipped through _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_. At last, she managed to find a page she could utilize. As soon as she dipped the quill into ink, someone threw themselves on Beca’s back. _Splat!_ The paper was stained with dark green inkblots. 

She was about to roast whoever’s ass behind into frizzled crisp. But her tongue was tied the second she spotted the oceanic blue eyes.

“Chloe!”

Chloe was smiling like a glowing sun. Her tiny devil headdress came into Beca’s notice. 

“Trick or treat!” She greeted and sat by Beca, uninvitedly. 

“Oh my gosh,” Beca facepalmed. Her eyes had rolled to the back of her head. “Chloe, seriously?”

“Of course!” Still smiling.

“Alright then, but I have no candies.” She pulled out the pockets—only a scrap of parchment and a few coins inside there.

Before she began rummaging her backpack, something crossed her mind. “Hey, wait a second. I remember…you still have my scarf!”

“What scarf?” Chloe blinked, tried to clamp off a smile.

Any fool could tell she was playing stupid. Beca squinted at Chloe trying so hard to mute her giggles by biting her lower lip. 

“ **My! Slytherin! Scarf!** You said you need something from Slytherin and next, it was borrowed ‘ _voluntarily_ ’.” She air-quoted the last word.

Chloe stuck her tongue out without answering anything.

“I need my scarf. Or I’ll be frozen like Elsa under this biting cold weather.”

“You can use mine!” Chloe drew her Gryffindor scarf out. Beca scowled at the scarlet and golden stripes. 

“Not your Gryffindor one. It’s so weird.” Chloe made a silly face before digging the scarf from the bag.

She then grudged the silver and green scarf back to Beca.

“Just asking, what did you do with my scarf?” She asked.

In the meantime, Stacie had completed her homework. She sat up and listened intently to their flirtation.

“To cheer for Slytherin, of course.” She replied with so much certainty as if it was the simplest maths question. This reminded Beca that Chloe was indeed wearing it when they hugged after the match.

“Do you know that we’ll be your opponent in the coming match?” Stacie chipped in.

Chloe shrugged, “yup, I know. What’s wrong?”

Beca facepalmed again while Stacie was dumbfounded.

“You still cheer for us even so?” Stacie pressed.

“No, I’m cheering for both sides. I will stand beside my house, that’s for sure. But I want to support Beca too ’cause I’m her diehard fan!” She held Beca tightly while the latter gave rolled eyes.

“And you do know our houses are like…enemy for centuries?” Beca questioned the excited redhead.

“Mm-hmm. But that doesn’t mean I have to hate Slytherin, right?” There was a hint of seriousness behind the smiley face.

Sighing, Beca darted a glance at Stacie and back to Chloe.

“Alright, but…” She dragged her backpack from the bench and unpinned a badge. “Take it with you. And please, never wear my scarf again. I’m busy enough dancing around the flying balls, and I won’t save you if you’re choked by those angry lions.”

“Yeah, considering we will return in triumph, that’s too dangerous for you.” Stacie echoed.

The badge was gently cupped in her hand. She couldn’t stop ohh-ing and wow-ing and play with it. A light blue cursive letter B was decorated with spreading wings and bordered by silver.

Beca scratched the back of her neck shyly. Stacie was the only person knowing about this badge thing.

“Err, I designed the badge for myself. Like, if I play for a Quidditch League in the future, it would come in handy. You know, like a logo.” She dared not look at Chloe so stared right at the badge instead. 

“B for Beca?” Chloe poked at the sky-blue letter. Beca nodded.

“Wow, that’s awesome!” A shade of rosy pink had crept up on Beca’s ears because of the admiration.

“Can I really keep this?” The dewy-eyed fireball gazed upon her.

Beca reassured, “ya, make it, umm, your Halloween treat!”

Chloe cracked a smile and once again, throw herself to Beca, who was thrown off balance.

“Thank you. I'll take it with me wherever I go.” After the whisper in Beca’s ear, she let go of the blushing brunette. The moment Beca thought it was over, her cheek met a pair of lips. It was a peck, light yet fervent. 

The flushed red face of Beca was now nearly steaming.

“D–did an’one tell you…y–you have no respect of personal boun’ry?” She rubbed where the kiss landed and muttered.

Chloe left the question open. With Beca watching aside, she pinned her treat on the robe carefully then glanced at her watch. “Oh no, Charms class!” She stood and returned the scarf in a hurry. Trotting to the exit door, she slowed down halfway through and waved goodbye.

“Merlin’s beard… What did I– Beca Mitchell was hugged and **KISSED** by people?!” Stacie gasped in astonishment, “you’re really head over heels for her, don’t you?” She shouldered Beca.

However, her eyes were fixed at where Chloe gone, fascinated, not even attempt to fight back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wanna share a PP joke/meme/whatever it called that I found funny :D
> 
> Fat Amy: Guys hold on! I'm having one of those...headache with pictures!  
> Chloe: What?!  
> Beca: She means she comes up with an idea.
> 
> 100% sure that's exactly how Fat Amy would address 'idea popping up'  
> \---  
> B


	13. Defeat

Before the Christmas vacation, they still had a match with Gryffindor. Everyone in Slytherin Team was confident and even believed the game would inevitably end in triumph. Their notion was quite understandable given that Gryffindor Chasers were less offensive and their Keeper was much less a threat than Luke. The Slytherin Chasers, who were cornered under the tight defense of Ravenclaw, were avid to stretch their arms in this match.

Beca put the gloves on. The palm was frayed and almost worn into holes.

Perhaps the dragon skin one next time. That's more durable, she thought.

She was waiting at the pitch entrance with her Thunderbolt VII, scanning from stand to stand anxiously. 

“Looking for Chloe?” Stacie asked.

Beca looked aside immediately and pretended to check on her uniform.

“Oh c’mon, stop faking,” Stacie smirked and stepped from Beca’s back to her right. Beca stared straight at the ground. Her ear was obviously red.

“Look, she’s right there.” She pointed at one of the scarlet-red stands. 

Without missing a beat, Beca lifted up her head and traced where Stacie pointed.

“Ha, gotchu! Who the heck could see her from this far?”

Stacie laughed while dodging the furious blows from Beca.

* * *

_Beep!_ The whistle blasted and Beca flew into mid-air.

Slytherin was in excellent condition today. She felt there was some sort of bonding between them developed over time. Their teamwork brought them great success in pulling off the tactics. However, the Gryffindor Chasers refused to be bested and countered — Cynthia-Rose, her classmate in particular.

She was merely second to Stacie in the tryout. After joining the Gryffindor, she had given a fresh impetus to the team that once lacked sharp offensive base. 

To combat Gryffindor’s change in style, Owen, the Slytherin Keeper, had devoted determined effort in training. The progress didn’t grow by leaps and bounds, but to a certain extend nevertheless.

The attacks went to and fro. It was a furious seesaw battle between the hissing snake and the roaring lion.

Almost out of revenge of the previous suppressive match, Stacie pressed aggressively. Twenty minutes later, Slytherin was leading by a nose. It was now 80-60.

Beca knew she had circled overhead too long, but there was nothing she could do before catching a glimpse of the Snitch. To her comfort, Gryffindor Seeker Riley didn’t have much luck either.

Being a fourth-year player, her performance was mediocre, according to Jonasson. Besides, her outdated Comet model had no way to compete with Beca’s professional class Thunderbolt VII.

Meanwhile, Riley was playing differently as Beca — gliding around the pitch.

Beca was distracted by Chloe, who was standing among the Gryffindors. Though she brandished the lion flag like many others, the blue badge was pinned on her chest. When she looked at Beca, a wave of warmth surged up inside her. She smiled back.

Slytherin scored again. But before Beca could celebrate the winning streak, Gryffindor Beater Bell launched a sudden attack on her. First a Bludger, dived. Another Beater Fitzgerald[1] flashed behind her with another Bludger. _Swoosh!_ Dodged. Seeing Jonasson and Rodger came to her rescue, Beca rose to leave the Beaters for them. A smug grin climbed on her face, but it didn’t last long. Coming in her peripheral vision, it was something that nearly gave her a heart attack.

The Gryffindor Seeker went into a nosedive. There, at the centre of the pitch, a glistening light spot wandered.

Beca slewed around violently. Yet, a Bludger aiming at her back got her entangled. Gryffindor Beaters were apparently not ignorant of her intention. Their devious strategy succeeded in trapping the champion of Slytherin. 

When she finally got rid of it, it was decidedly late.

Riley was already holding that little golden ball. 

She felt a great whoosh of dismay splashing from head to toe.

They lost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1 Fitzgerald - related to Fitzgerald family. A high-profile American wizarding family from Ireland who have a political legacy that reaches as far back as the founding fathers of the General Congress of American Wizards. Since then, the Fitzgeralds have produced members who have served in political positions in every subsequent generation, including two Presidents of MACUSA. The Fitzgerald family is thought to be the most influential wizarding family in America and is said to be "the closest thing they have to royalty." [Back]  
> \---  
> The world is getting a hell lot crazier each day. Stay H2O: healthy, hearty and optimistic  
> \---  
> 4 days before Harry Potter's birthday!!!  
> \---  
> B


	14. Mood

The Slytherin team sat in their wrinkled uniform by the crackling of fire. Jonasson stood by the fireplace — hands crossed, staring at the dancing flames. Stacie leaned back in her chair; jaw clenched. As for the others, some sunk into the armchairs, some slouched against the wall. All remained soundless. Beca buried her head in arms, didn’t lift it up for the whole time.

The evening sun shone through the lake. Along the wall, the lights glimmered sluggishly.

“It sucks — the feeling of losing. I understand that and Rodger does too. We’ve lost countless time since partnering in first-year.” Rodger nodded in a bitter smile. “And till today, it strikes as harsh as the first time.”

“However,” Some looked up. “Time would tell you: failure is your best coach; sadness is your fuel to go; and after casting the dejection away, all these experiences will be your cornerstone to step on.”

“Well, I don’t mean we have to keep losing to grow stronger…” Jonasson smiled, so did a couple of teammates. “But hey, we’re still standing. We lost for once, not for all. And we’re not losers, just not yet a winner, don’t we?”

“I mean, look at our team — the youngest, most youthful one among the four. We have two sophisticated Beaters who know when to blow a Bludger kiss to rival’s ass.” The joke enlivened the once spiritless room.

“We have the best Chaser trio, and one of them is the best performer in this year’s tryout!” Stacie blinked over the compliment.

“Don’t forget,” he turned to face Beca, “we have the nimblest Seeker in years!” Beca shook her head with a wry smile.

“Look at us. Who could have thought we even defeated the Champion of last year in the first match?” Jonasson stood up, passionately. 

“So feel free to lament over this match — the anguish would push us higher, faster and stronger. Remember, don’t drop your head — that’s should go to our rivals!”

“This is your first defeat and won’t be your last. Bear in mind: Slytherin might be beaten sometimes, but **never** vanquished!” He glanced about his teammates. “Now buddies, get some sleep. When we set our foot in the pitch, we shall make it a triumphant return!”

“SLYTHERIN!” 

“ **GLORIA AETERNA!** ” roared everyone.

Captain’s word had eased everybody’s mind a bit. Walking towards the dorm, their seemed less tensed up. Yet, after saying goodnight to Stacie, Beca jumped to the bed with disgust filling the chest.

She despised herself of underestimating the weaker opponent, and of distracting by the pitchside. Although no one, including Captain, faulted her; that only made her feel worse. She knew her determination and intention for Quidditch were essential for her to become a better player — she had learned her lesson. There would be a long journey ahead.

After making up her mind, gradually, the surge of remorse ebbed. Tides of relaxation flowed in, stirring with exhaustion after the match. They swept over Beca and lulled her to a content drowse. Drooping the eyelids, the thoughts of Chloe crept up on her in the darkness.

Images of her cheering on the grandstand and her beam had warmed Beca up. But apart from that, there was something fell beyond her recognition that caught her attention in the match. For the first time, a mixing feeling arose when she thought of that pair of azure eyes. Certainly, Chloe wasn’t the one to blame. She had to figure it out alone what that exactly was.

But not now, because she was really, really tired…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit short this time but thanks god the insensitive Beca finally realise there's something between Chloe and her!!  
> \---  
> That would be super cool if "Alis volat propriis" (she flies with her own wings) is included in her badge. The phrase is so suitable for a Seeker like her. But I've given up on digitizing the badge so never mind :((  
> \---  
> B


	15. Teddy

Two weeks had slipped away since the last match.

Though Beca knew she shouldn’t, unwittingly, she was avoiding Chloe like the plague.

The peculiar feelings for Chloe still lingered on and remained somewhat unexplained. Before she had this confusion cleared up, it was better to starve off Chloe for another week. At least that was what she thought. But during every mealtime, she could sense that heating gaze beaming across the tables. Therefore, she usually grabbed a few dreamy bites then rushed back to Dungeon or to the pitch for an aimless flight.

* * *

The last lesson before the long-awaited holiday was DA. It evoked a delightful holiday mood overfilling the air. The bell rang when Lupin had their homework assigned. The class couldn’t delay any longer to pack their stuff and get ready for Christmas. Lupin stopped Beca when she walked by.

Beca exchanged a look with Stacie. Stacie got that and left with Fat Amy. 

“Yes, Teddy?” She turned around.

“Feeling alright, Beca? You seem quite inattentive lately.” With a casual flick, the chalk-marks were gone as if they were never there.

“Ya. I’m fine,” Beca slurred. Lupin raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Is it about the match? I was there too, and you did pretty well. It’s just — Gryffindor pinned you down. Don’t take it to heart, okay?”

“Thanks,” she shrugged.

“Spending the holiday with family?”

Beca shook her head. “Nah, my dad and step-mum are having a business trip to Romania. I’ll be staying in Hogwarts.” There was a hint of disappointment in her voice.

Lupin nodded then drew a set of black hardbacks from the shelf behind.

“I must say, your performance exceeds my expectation for a first-year. It’s very excellent, and so I wish you could study ahead of the class.” He passed the books to Beca. “Here. Make good use of your holiday.” He blinked.

“Oh. Thanks,” she murmured. The extra reading on top of the holiday assignment wasn’t what she was looking for, but she still appreciated his suggestion. 

Lupin walked her out of the classroom and waved goodbye.

“Merry Christmas, Beca.”

“Merry Christmas, Teddy.”

She looked at his back dwindling at the other end of the hallway until it disappeared that she drew her interest back to the books.

That was quite dated as it appeared. The edges of the cover curved and were whitened from the frequent use of its previous owner. On top of that printed with the title that had tarnished with age: _Practical Defensive Magic and Its Use Against the Dark Arts - Volume One_

Flipping through the first page, she noticed a few lines written on the blank space:

> _Dear Harry,_
> 
> _Sirius and I agreed the books would be a great help for your DA course._
> 
> _You’re brave, just like your father. Be persistent and never give up._
> 
> _Have faith in your heart — darkness would fade, and the light is dawning near._
> 
> _Merry Christmas._
> 
> _Lupin_

The story of his life was one of the popular gossips that she overheard several times, about his parents’ premature death, and about his well-known godfather. 

Teddy grew up with the absence of fatherhood, yet, he chose to follow his footsteps without reservation. Soon after his graduation, he gained some years of experience being a Auror before returning to Hogwarts. He succeeded his father as the guiding light of the young wizards and witches against the dark. 

Beca stared at the paragraph, lost in thoughts. She was of course proud of Teddy’s expectation; meanwhile, shrouding in mists of distress for Teddy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How I wish it's Christmas right now!  
> \---  
> B


	16. Reunion

Next day morning, Beca watched with envy as Stacie and Fat Amy set off for the train.

Fat Amy gave Beca a bear hug (“Don’t miss me too much, weirdo”). And Stacie was kneeling on her suitcase (stuffed with Charm books, her leisure reading), bringing the hasps together. She tilted her head, looking at Beca, who was slouching on the bed.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come over? You know my parents would love to have you there.” She stood up with arms akimbo, lifting a side of her eyebrows.

Beca shook her head. A twisted smile crossed her face.

“Nah, thanks. I can’t just turn up uninvited. Now go and say hi to your mum and dad for me.”

“I will. Merry Christmas, Beca.”

“Merry Christmas, Stacie.”

Stacie hugged her before leaving the dorm.

They all went out, so did the squabbling noise. The room, for once, was filled with silence. Only the splashes of the lake against the windows could be heard.

She sat, gazing absently into the placid lake, lost in her thoughts. Finally, she was back from the fuzzy state, ready for the breakfast.

The usual crowd at the Hall was mostly gone for Christmas. There was only a little of them appeared today in causal wear, scattering around. When she sat on the empty Slytherin table, she couldn’t help thinking about how they used to clamour through each mealtime. There was Fat Amy who could clean the table in five seconds if no one held her back; and Stacie whose meal was accompanied by a book. There was also Cynthia-Rose who often dropped by their table, Benji aka “Mr Good” and Jesse who often made fun at Beca. Last but not least, there was one who always greeted Beca with a big, warm smile…

…Chloe.

Much to her amazement, she had earned herself that many friends from the four houses within a few months. She shook her head, almost unbelievably.

What was wrong with these people? How did they bear with (as Amy said) a weirdo like her?

Soon she found herself shivering over the mawkish sentimentality. It was merely the first day of holiday and the thoughts of the squad already overflowed. So, she hurried to finish the food and went out of the Hall.

Walking on the hallway, she made another turn, taking the stairs to West Tower instead of Dungeon Corridor.

* * *

The sunlight filtered through the stone frames. Most owls were burying their heads in wings for a sound sleep. It took her some time to locate Rosie among the greyish-brownish furry balls. She was resting on a bare overhanging branch until Beca called, that she flew to her shoulder and pecked with bleary eyes.

“Hey Rosie. Long time no see. Do you miss me?” she whispered while combing the feathers on the beck.

“I do. Beca,” someone answered, from the door. The panic made her turn, or more precisely, spin around hastily that Rosie was an inch away from falling. She bit to protest. Beca smoothed her down at once, yet her gaze fell on the responder.

It wasn’t anyone else but the red-haired girl she had been dodging for weeks.

“…hi, Chloe,” she greeted with a sort of guilty hesitation. Smiling, Chloe walked to her left.

“Why are you here? I-I-I mean, ya, you could be here, of course, but I thought… Er, you’re not home for Christmas?” She always stuttered once lost control of her nerves, making her question hopelessly inarticulate. Seeing how Beca spoiled her own speech by correcting it, Chloe giggled.

“Mum and dad are having their second honeymoon in Australia, so here I am,” she sighed. “And you?”

“Um, so do my parents, but that’s a business trip. Anyway…their itinerary would be pretty much the same as your parents’.” Beca was slightly annoyed by the scene in her head. Chloe chuckled over her answer.

The corner of her lips curved; she was still in shock of how smooth their conversation flew. 

“So, why are you here that early?”

Chloe waved the package in her hand. “They’re leaving by tomorrow, and that would be too far for Katie by then. Better to send the present early.”

Chloe’s snow owl, Katie, landed on her shoulder upon the calling. When Chloe attached the package to her claw, Katie’s round eyes kept studying Rosie.

“Alright Katie. Be safe!”

She brought Katie to the window. Katie kissed on her finger as a farewell before the flight.

“She’s gorgeous.” The compliment slipped out when Beca was admiring the elegance of Katie.

“Thanks.” Beaming with glee, Chloe started playing with Rosie.

Rosie threw a disdainful glance at the teasing finger and pinned her head sideways.

“Umm, she doesn’t like to be teased. She takes it as an offence,” she deadpanned as Rosie grumbling aside. Chloe gasped. Only after she retracted the hand did Rosie look back in her face.

“You can try this.” Beca demonstrated by running her fingers along Rosie’s feather. She began to purr and fluffed up her wings.

Chloe slowly approached Rosie. The owl glared at the beginning but quickly surrendered under her gentle strokes. She first had her eyes loosely shut and later landed a mild peck on Chloe’s hand.

“I think she likes you,” Beca chuckled.

Chloe’s face lit up with a broad smile and gave Rosie some more strokes.

“Like owner, like pet,” she joked.

Though Beca rolled her eyes, the cute interaction between Chloe and Rosie brought a faint smile on her lips.

“I miss you, Beca.” The sharp change of topic caught Beca off guarded. “I miss… _us_.”

She was stoned to the spot. Her grey eyes met with the sky-blue ones.

“I know you’re avoiding me and I know it’s because of the match, but…perhaps we can put all these — houses and matches — aside and still be friends?”

Beca blanked. The watery eyes had triggered that bizarre feeling again.

She liked Chloe, the way she popped up by her side and the constant violation of her personal space (“no, not this one,” she defenced in her mind). At the very least, she enjoyed Chloe’s company, undoubtedly.

Still, there were other elements she found difficult to define: the pearwood scent wreathed around her, the stir of emotions whenever Chloe hugged her, the subconscious habit of searching Chloe in the campus, or _that one kiss_ on her cheek. All these distracted Beca from gauging her attitude towards Chloe. One thing for sure was Chloe differed from her other friends, Stacie included. She was _special_. But in what way? She had no idea.

At least after these weeks, she knew, without Chloe — it sucked.

So she nodded.

A grin blossomed on Chloe’s face. She jumped into Beca’s arms, despite the discontent fluttering of Rosie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just learned from this chapter that Anna Kendrick's eyes were actually greyish-blue. Thought they're blue as Brittany Snow's ones. Even zoomed in her pic to check (making me look like a creep :(( )  
> And had a fruitful lecture of how to gain a pet bird's trust. 
> 
> You never know what interesting new knowledge lies ahead when doing research for translation ;D  
> \---  
> B


	17. Squid

“Hey, promise me you won’t tell anyone ‘bout that,” Beca repeatedly urged on the way back to the dungeon. The ginger hair blinked, her eyes glowing brightly.

Sigh.

That was Chloe’s idea. In a slip of the tongue, Beca mentioned the Giant Squid would swim pass the window every night when Chloe brought up the rumours around it. The next thing she knew was Chloe batting her eyelashes and her face was sparkling with anticipation.

After that, she might accidentally make another slip that she and a seventh-year library camper were the only Slytherins stayed behind.

And that summed up the causes of this early-night smuggling attempt. So, well, her big mouth was mostly to blame for the whole thing.

But when Chloe Beale begged you with her puppy eyes and pouty lips, Beca didn’t think there would be anyone able to reject her.

She stopped by a stone wall, darted another glance at the excited Gryffindor.

“Dragon blood.” An arch emerged upon the passcode. Passing through, they entered the common room.

Chloe’s heart was caught by the rows of portholes and she skipped towards one. The dim moonlight shone through the brush into the lake. The glimmers danced along with the flow, whirling with shoals of fish. Did those silver lights belong to the water or the metallic fish scales? In the still of the night, the lake surface blocked the hush out, keeping the vitality underwater. She was certainly dazzled by the view. Meanwhile, Beca was chuckling over Chloe, who gasped at the scenery that the Slytherins grew bored to see every day. 

“Where’s your room?” Chloe turned to ask when she had had enough of the lake view. 

Beca led her through the stone stairways down to a lower level where the Slytherins’ dorm located.

As soon as Beca open the wooden door, Chloe squeezed through the gap before it was fully open. She scanned around in genuine interest, from left to right and from celling to the floor. Lastly, she fixed her eyes on a bed by a wall. 

“I take it's yours, right?” She pointed at the Holyhead Harpies poster at the bedside.

The second Beca echoed, Chloe jumped onto the bed.

“Hey! You’re messing up my bed!” Annoyed as she sounded, she adored how nicely the auburn hair and the dark emerald sheet went.

“So that makes those two Stacie’s and Amy’s?” She rested her chin on the left palm and pointed at the remaining beds.

“Ya, the one by the door is Fat Amy's. She said that’s her secret of being the first for every meal.”

Chloe chuckled.

“Seriously, you are literally making yourself at home.” Beca watched as Chloe leaned on her pillow as bed rest and patted the vacant half beside her. Beca headed towards but sat on the end of the bed instead. Chloe was certainly unsatisfied, as one could tell by the twisted lips of hers.

“No, Chloe. It’s cramped,” she tried to sound firm.

“What’s that?” she poked at the book.

Beca scratched the beck her neck. “Teddy…I mean Professor Lupin gave me for some self-study during holiday.”

Chloe raised her eyebrows and picked it up.

“Almost unintelligible to me,” she tutted while flipping casually.

“That’s quite interesting in fact, to me, at least, w-with lots of practical spells.” Beca’s ears were growing red.

Chloe closed the book, looking rather thoughtful as she placed it back on the nightstand.

“Hey, the talk this morning reminds me that I actually know nothing of your family. Oh, maybe not at all. Aubrey told me that your father works for the Ministry of Magic?”

Beca bit her lip, boggling at the question. Apart from Stacie, she had never opened up to anybody else about her family.

Chloe, however, had the magic of easing her mind. She would be an exception, Beca thought and prepared herself with a deep breath.

“Yeah…okay.” She straightened herself up a bit. “My dad’s working in RnD. He met my mum in London — she’s a muggle, so I’m a half-blood.” After a brief pause, she continued.

“She, umm, passed away when I was 7 and for a long time, we were drowned in emptiness…It felt like, we’ll never be happy again.” She swallowed, “…until my dad met Sheila, my stepmum. She’s been nice to us, which I’m much grateful for. Well, she has braced the old man up and hold the family together. As they say, mustn’t grumble. Yup, that’s it.” When she looked up, she noticed the tears filling Chloe’s eyes. 

“…Chloe?” She tried to suppress the tremble in her voice.

For a long moment Chloe did nothing but stared at her speechlessly. 

“It must be hard to take when it happened,” Chloe breathed. It wasn’t a question but Beca nodded anyway, “mhmm, I miss her.”

“I’m so sorry.” Chloe held Beca’s left hand in her palm, like last time in the hospital, smoothing her hand with the thumb.

The two fell into an uncomfortable silence until Beca changed the topic, “you haven’t told me anything about your family either.”

Chloe’s facial muscles began to ease up but she continued with the stroking. 

“Lemme see. I’m muggle-born. Dad’s a vet and mum’s a dance teacher. Ah, and a much older brother. He’s studying in Scotland for vet too. I have zero wizard or witch in my family, so it was such a mess when I got my letter.” She burst into laughter seeing the shock on Beca’s face.

“What? You don’t expect I’m a muggle-born?”

“Um, yea… ‘cause you don’t look like one! I mean, you’re so into Quidditch!”

Chloe shook her head, “it all started after I got in here. Though I’ve never watched a tournament in person, I have subscribed ‘Quidditch World’ for all the information about each match!”

Beca’s jaw dropped.

Since she met Chloe, she had always assumed Chloe obtained the Quidditch fever growing up as a kid. She was completely taken aback after learning her family background.

“How come you’re not in the tryout?”

“I love watching the match, Mitchell, but it doesn’t mean I would be a good player. I’m content to stay on the ground, all safe and sound.”

Her palm tightened slightly. “Quidditch is a sport of flair and, Beca, I see the gift inside you.”

Beca saw the sincerity and confidence in her eyes. She nodded. 

“So, Beca, where’s the Giant Squid?” Chloe sat up to search for the sign of the massive creature.

Beca’s eyebrows arched. “It’s usually there before I go to sleep, like ten or eleven.” She checked her watch. “It’s just nine-thirty, not yet the time.”

“It seems I have to wait here overnight then.”

Chloe put on a willy-nilly face and laid on Beca’s bed, but her smug grin had betrayed her. 

“Woah, that’s smooth, Beale.” Beca rolled her eyes. “Don’t you Gryffindors have a warm, cosy dorm? I see no reason for you staying in the dank and man-eating Slytherin cellar.”

“That’s why I can’t leave you alone in this _dank and man-eating cellar_ , Beca. I’m protecting you.”

“Why don’t you protect me from Stacie’s bed, or Fat Amy’s, oh, there’s an empty bed ov—” The sentence broke off when she was pulled and fell right next to Chloe.

“Chloe!” She could feel her face heating vigorously.

“Shush, Beca. Time to sleep now. Night-night.”

The back of Beca’s neck was tingling as Chloe’s breath fell on there. Her arm wrapped around Beca gently, so did the calming waft of pearwood scent. Really, no one could possibly say no to Chloe Beale. And tonight was a concrete proof. 

* * *

“Chloe…”

“Hmm?”

“The Squid.”

“Where?!”

“Just kidding.”

Chloe frowned and gave her a fierce tickle on her waist.

“Hey **AUCH** , no! Stop! S-sorry! I just wanna see if you’re really sleeping.”

She massaged the attacked area, whining at Chloe who was smirking in victory. 

“I hate you, Beale.”

“You love me, Mitchell.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.”

Smiling, Chloe gazed at Beca’s back as she turned aside and drifted off to a sound sleep.

Only until the fifth year did Chloe witness the Squid chilling by the window. Whenever she recalled that night, she would have the same smile like this one on her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE BELLA'S ARE BACK!!! [“Love On Top (cover)” - Benefiting UNICEF](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sE59kPlblPI) Go check it out!  
> \---  
> I might not able to continue the weekly update under the new personal timetable, but I'll work my best to post 2-3 chapters per month.  
> \---  
> B


	18. Gift

The sunshine travelled through the lake and seeped into Beca’s room, lighting up the dorm with a kaleidoscope of colours.

“Nooooo,” she mumbled and hid her head under the comforter.

There was tread from the staircase, louder and louder as it came. **Bam!** The door was forced open.

“Merry Christmas!” 

It must be Chloe — the only person on earth who could still sing Christmas greetings after breaking in. Or who else could it be?

She simply turned her back on Chloe, clamped her head between both sides of the pillow. However, that wasn't enough to persuade Chloe to give up, she skipped towards Beca’s bed.

“Beca, get up! Today is Christmas day!” She waggled the grunting burrito.

As soon as she found jiggling ineffective, she stopped and frowned. _Fine, you left me no choice._ She stripped the roll with a swoosh and thrust her hands at the brunette.

Under the fierce attack, Beca tried to wriggle free in a spasm of laughing.

“Stop! Chloe! I’m up!” She pulled a face at Chloe, who appeared quite smug of the outcome.

“You know, Chloe, I didn’t tell you the passcode for an early morning call.”

“But today's Christmas,” Chloe pouted and handed her a dainty box. “Merry Christmas, Beca.”

She took it with mouth agape.

“You dun have to gimme a gift…” she murmured.

Decisively, Chloe shook her head. “That won’t do. You’ve sent me one!”

She dug into her bag for the opened box. Inside there were toffee puffs packed by golden foil.

“Rosie delivered that to my room this morning. Thanks, Beca. But how do you know it’s my favourite sweets?”

Beca smirked. 

“Top secret. Strictly confidential.”

She meant to irritate Chloe. Yet the response was more of a flirt than a fightback. “One day, I’ll explore you and know you from head to toe, Beca,” she said with a suggestive wink that heated up Beca’s face.

“Hey. Open that.” Chloe noticed the stoned Beca and jogged her elbow.

“Oh.”

Beca pulled the white ribbon. It was a paper box under the wrapper. She darted a glance at Chloe with a raised eyebrow before lifting the lid.

The content of the box just cracked her up.

Inside the box laid a golden badge with a block letter ‘C’ in the middle and a line written ‘Beale Rock’ down below.

“Oh my gosh!” Beca shook her head unbelievably. “This is amazing!”

Chloe smiled. “I took your badge; so to be fair, I have to give you mine.”

“I’ll bring it with me wherever I go, for this is my good luck charm,” Beca put on her serious face, but eventually ended in laughter.

“Glad you like it. C’mon, let’s go grab some food.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a month (what?!) and da-ta! Another Christmas chapter! Quality time for Bechloe :)  
> \---  
> ugh I hate September. It's merely October but my body's already celebrating Halloween mentally.  
> \---  
> B


	19. Christmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry pal i've missed out the second to last paragraph when pasting the whole chapter  
> recommend reading the chapter again if you've finished before i post the note for a better understanding of the plot  
> \---  
> between the updates, i often revise the older chapters (word choice, sentence structure, typo...)  
> so don't worry, it's not Mandela Effect or an early Alzheimer  
> it's just me

Beca’s first Christmas in Hogwarts was ticked away in a delightful mood.

After a hearty breakfast, Chloe brought the gifts received to Beca’s room, where they unboxed the rest. 

The gift packages were mounding up by the bed, in which the biggest box came from Sheila and dad. It was a Broomstick Serving Kit containing all sorts of tools for her baby Thunderbolt (including a pair of silver Tail-Twig Clippers, a jar of High-Finish Handle Polish and a Cleanbroom Wiper Cloth).

There was a present from Stacie too, a book named _Snitch in Your Grip: The Must-have Techniques and Tactics of a Seeker._ It was laid next to Lupin’s hardcover after a quick skim. They could make a nice set of bedtime reading, she thought. Fat Amy got her a box of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans which Beca opened right away for an adventurous morning with Chloe. The brass compass alongside was sent by Jesse (“ _Beca, never lost your bearings in the next match. Jesse_ ”). She tutted, but placed it gently with the serving kit anyway and reminded herself to kick his ass once the holiday was over.

Chloe received a hand-knitted pullover from her parents (“My mum made one for my brother and me every year”), a beige bobble hat that really brought out her auburn hair and a tin of cherry biscuits her mother baked. Her brother sent a pair of delicate silver earrings. Aubrey, on the other hand, brought her a biography of the legendary female singer, Celestina Warbeck (Beca had to cover her ears for Chloe cried an explosive whistle note as soon as she saw the cover).

Upon Chloe’s suggestion, they spent the afternoon outdoor building a snowman. Then when a snowball smacked on Chloe’s head, it triggered an inevitable snowball fight which finally ceased with both sides falling on the snowy ground, huffing and puffing and laughing.

The sun began to dip behind the towers when the girls crawled back to the castle on their dragging limbs. They changed the soaked clothes in their respective dorm before meeting up in the Hall for the Christmas Feast.

Unlike the usual, the long tables were cleared off from the centre. All the staff and students staying over for Christmas, which were only a handful, fitted in one table.

There were also stacks of wizard crackers on the tabletop. Beca and Chloe took turns to pull them one by one. As the bang and the smoke faded in the air, what they left were typically a few panicking white mice and fancy novelties. Sometimes it was a cheesy wizard hat, sometimes a pair of funny-looking spiral glasses. By the time Beca left the dining table, her hands were as full as the stomach, with delicacy stretching the latter and peculiar stuff filling the former (for example, there were a set of Gobstones, a hair-colour changing witch’s hat, a silvery harmonica and a pack of self-shuffling playing cards).

Along the dim corridor, she followed Chloe to The Fat Lady’s portrait. While she was squirming for a goodbye, in a whoosh, Chloe pulled her through the entrance.

This was Beca’s first visit to the Common Room of other houses. From the first impression, it gave off the exact polar opposite of vibes she felt in the emerald dungeon. Fire danced under the dome, warming up the room of red and gold. The mantelpiece above was adorned with an embroidery of a lion. There were comfy, squashy armchairs everywhere. 

Only after Chloe reassured Beca there wouldn't be any student around in those hours, did Beca doubtfully sat by the fireplace. Yet, in a few blinks, the worries were tossed behind her head. Her attention was now held by the possibility of roasting marshmallows and fudges in the fireplace, and she worked that idea out with Chloe in a headlong rush.

The duo played Gobstones for a round or two (and was perfumed with nasty liquid immediately by the new-gained set). They also wolfed down only-Merlin-knows-how-many marshmallows before it was too late for Beca to go (Chloe had invited her to sleepover but given the hostility of Gryffindors, Beca had to reject for their own sake).

She shuffled through the entire castle down into the dungeon, and onto her bed. That was the only time she realised the breadth of the mattress. It was wide, and so broad that when she slept there alone tonight, it almost felt empty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chloe's family just gave off so much Weasleys' vibes <3  
> \---  
> Finally a week away from the Pumpkin Festival! The other day I asked my friend to work some magic on a pumpkin. Without missing a beat, they throw the uncooked slices into the cup of water I'm drinking and introduced me to a cup of IKEA pumpkin soup. I'd say their chaotic energy is quite enough for Halloween 2020.  
> \---  
> B


	20. Worries

Beca spent the remaining holiday often in the Common Room reading with Chloe (besides Lupin’s book, she had also flipped through _The Must-have Techniques and Tactics of a Seeker_ a thousand times). She also did occasional practice while Chloe keeping track of time from the stadium. Then discussed the possible plans in polishing her skills during the breaks (the encyclopaedic knowledge Chloe bore never failed to impress Beca). 

She and Chloe were sticking together throughout the Christmas, almost inseparably. Slowly, she had familiarised herself with the company of Chloe in doing everything. So as the calendar pages were torn off one after one, a dull ache started growing in her stomach. 

Of course, she was excited to meet the other friends, but that also meant the campus would be full of students again. The vast majority, however, were judgemental about the rare friendship between Gryffindor and Slytherin. 

Her anxiousness didn’t go unnoticed. The night before the holiday ended, Chloe patted Beca on her back while she was daydreaming at Lupin’s book. She looked around, puzzled. 

“Beca. You have something on your mind.” Chloe threw a stern look.

She dipped her head back for a few more pages but was blocked by Chloe’s hand.

“Beca!” Gosh, she’s getting real.

“You know you can tell me everything.”

Hesitating, Beca stared at her for some moments, before letting out a held breath.

“Yes. I know, it just…” She tousled her hair. “I dunno how to say.”

Suddenly Chloe sprang up and packed everything up.

“Come on. Let’s get some fresh air.” She reached out her hand, like the first time they met. It pulled Beca out of the seat and out of the daze.

* * *

“I’m worrying… we can’t be like this anymore after the holiday, like, hanging around all day… _ together _ .”

A long walk around the castle finally got her worries spilt out.

Chloe had her eyes locked at Beca’s face. Outside the window, the stiff wind wafted the snowflakes down. Beca was observing the snow over-attentively to avoid the snow-melting gaze, until a pair of warming hands wrapped around her fist.

“Beca, we can’t change everybody’s mind, but I’m grateful as long as we are together happily and freely.”

“I think I just can’t ignore how they see me, a-and the stereotype.”

Her head dropped, yet the grip on her hand was tightened.

“I don’t care. What they think will never change the way I see you.”

“What if I’m born evil? W-what if I’m _that_ crafty, like the Slytherin in everybody’s eyes? I’m saying, hey, _I’m a Slytherin_ , Chloe. And no one likes Slytherin.”

“I like you.”

“…huh?”

“I. Like. You.” Chloe looked at her with flinty eyes. “I don’t care if you’re a Slytherin. For me, you are Beca Mitchell — the best Quidditch player I’ve ever known, the tough-looking girl with a marshmallow heart. _This,_ is the Beca I know. It’ll never change, no matter which house you come from, or what they say about it.” She paused, gazing upon Beca’s grey eyes. 

“Maybe because I’m muggle-born that I always think the houses are just shelters, a place where we belong. They can never represent who we truly are. Gryffindors aren’t always that courageous; Ravenclaws make mistakes sometimes; not all Hufflepuffs have a kind heart, and Slytherins can be friendly too. So, the house doesn’t define who we are. I’m who I am: Chloe Beale, a Gryffindor. And you — you are Beca Mitchell, a Slytherin, my best friend in Hogwarts. That’s it.”

For a long while Beca went blank. The words had touched the depths in her heart.

Ever since the Hat put her into Slytherin, she had been wallowing in self-pity. People were instinctively resentful of them. Yes, she knew well enough not to judge others by their houses. Not everyone did, though. Sarcasm and coldness thus became her armour against the anti-Slytherin manner shooting all around her. However, being friends with Chloe and the others who welcomed students of all houses had got her thinking. Perhaps, it was her that got trapped in the prejudice all this time.

“Thank you, Chloe,” she whispered.

Chloe comforted her with a firm bear hug. When Beca was finally let go from the tight squish, she couldn’t hold back her joking tongue.

“Let’s see what Posen’s gonna say when I tell her I’m your bestie!” 

“How dare you!”

The gloominess in the air was now swiped away by fits of giggles as Chloe chased Beca for a tummy tickle.

Most of the students returned on the last day of the holiday. And so the once empty hallways were now echoed with hubbub. The flocks exchanged their experiences and mourned for the overly short break. Sighing and moaning could be heard in any corner of the castle.

On the other hand, Beca felt completely at ease or even oddly relieved compared to the first few days. Although waiting ahead was heavier schoolwork, tougher Quidditch training and an important match, plus she had yet to define her feelings for Chloe; the grey grimness once in her chest had been cast off. And it was this emotional, blue-eyed personal-space-invader who worked the magic. Going to bed at night, she realised she was actually looking forward to whatever lay ahead. This optimism was so not her style — it must be obtained from Chloe.

“Girl, you really have magic in you…” Beca mumbled. She stroked across the golden badge by the pillow and drifted off with a pleasant smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've tried a new trick on Ch1 background info. Go check this out!


	21. Chance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a bit raw hehe  
> pushed myself for an early update cos the next update might have to wait till mid dec :(

Jonasson’s eyes swept across the teammates. Everyone was looking at him.

“Two days ago, Hufflepuff ended Gryffindor at two hundred and ten. Do you have any idea what it means?”

Several nodded but the rest were clueless. Jonasson sighed, “That means we may still win! If we outscore Hufflepuff by a hundred next Sunday, the trophy this year will go to Slytherin!”

Hearing the good news, the team quickly rallied from the depression. They still stood a chance, the chance of winning the shimmering silver cup for Slytherin.

Jonasson raised a paper slip. “So I asked a favour from Professor Slughorn. And he was more than willing to book the entire evening training session of this week. Don’t let him down. This is our time. And we will win this!” He glanced around the locker room again. “When we’re on the broom, I want you to think only about our next match — not homework, not other non-sense. Just Quidditch. Do I make myself clear?”

All nodded in determination. They were ready for this.

“Alright. Brooms up, shirts in, practice starts!”

* * *

Under every cauldron in the classroom, there was heated a flame, boiling the green liquid of different tones. The recipe of Shrinking Potion was written on the blackboard. And Professor Slughorn was waddling down the aisle where his eyes flickered from cauldron to cauldron.

“Pspsps,” Jesse called Beca across the table while mincing the daisy roots. Beca simply darted a glance before continuing to peel the Shrivelfig.

“Are you ready for the Sunday’s game?” he asked and chuckled after Beca shot him another glare.

“Can’t talk to you now,” Beca replied dryly and went back stirring the semi-finished solution.

“Why?” Jesse’s eyes were widened.

“Jonasson said no unnecessary contact with Hufflepuffs before the match.” She was flipping the textbook to check the procedure. 

“Woah, that’s not fair! What he thinks we’re up to? Poison you in Potions?”

“I know you won’t.” Beca finally looked him in the eyes. Just when Jesse was about to wear his signature smile, she added, “cos you know I still fly better than you either way.”

“What?! N–” He broke off in the middle of his words as Professor Slughorn was approaching and checked on Beca’s work.

“Excellent, Beca. Five points to Slytherin.” His face was wreathed in smiles which vanished without a trace once he turned to Jesse. “Mr Swanson, perhaps you should talk less and do more.” Before leaving for the other tables, he gave Beca a grin again and a slap on the back. 

“Oops!” She whispered, a smug look on her face. 

“And you’re telling me Hufflepuff’s playing unfairly! If Slughorn doesn’t try the potion on me by the end of the class, I’ll have a bowl of Flobberworm for my dinner.”

It was Benji’s toad picked for the trial.

Thank Merlin that Stacie had her potion brewed successfully. A drop on the toad shrank it into a tadpole, waggling its tail in Slughorn’s palm. With another drip of antidote, it turned back to the previous form.

“Teddy should learn that bit from him,” Jesse murmured bitterly.

* * *

The whole school, both staff and students, was in high spirits about the rivalry between Hufflepuff and Slytherin. As the Head of Slytherin House, Slughorn saw showing favouritism to his house as a matter of course; whereas Professor Lupin of Hufflepuff acted oppositely. He refused to treat Hufflepuffs better by giving them fewer assignments despite being the Good Sir in everybody’s eyes.

The corridors now became the battlefield of Hufflepuffs and Slytherins. There had been a few students hospitalised for curses this week alone. Therefore, the players of both teams had to stay extra alert in the open space, avoiding the tricks and attacks from the other side.

One time when Beca chatted with Chloe on the hallway, with a loud blast, the armour behind her fell into pieces. The importers flew away from the scene quickly, but Beca could still capture a flash of bright yellow from their robes.

Stacie wasn’t that fortune though. She was ambushed on the way to Charms by an unknown curse. Although Madam Pomfrey reassured her the quadrupled forearm would be gone at once, her roars of fury were audible throughout the hospital wing.

Hufflepuff Team wasn’t getting any luck either. Someone swapped Jesse’s bronze telescope for the boxing one from Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes. His right eye was thus decorated with a purple bruise (“Honestly, Swanson, you look hotter with panda eyes,” Beca laughed. Jesse grunted and then trotted down to hospital).

The ridiculous mud-wrestling had eventually ceased the night before the match.

Slytherin players gathered around the Common Room. Concentratedly, Jonasson was studying his notebooks filled with illustrations of manoeuvres. The Chasers, Hanson and Hannah were playing chess. Rodger the Beater was wandering by the portholes and Owen, the Keeper, was musing beside the crackling fire. Stacie, as always, was losing herself in the books. And with the help of her Christmas present, Broomstick Servicing Kit, Beca was overhauling her Thunderbolt for tomorrow’s event. 

Only until Jonasson slapped shut the booklet and dismiss the meeting, did everyone file into their room.


	22. Anxiety

The sun blazed brilliantly on the next day. 

“Mild wind. The offensive’s hoops, facing the sun — Chasers needa watch out…” Jonasson made half a remainder, half a mumbling.

Thrilled and nervously, Beca was waiting at the entrance of the pitch for the looming match.

She kept telling herself to shake off the haunted shadow of the last defeat; however, her hands couldn’t help trembling.

A hand patted on her shoulder. She turned around, found Stacie with a furrowed brow.

“Everything’s good? You look kinda pale.”

Beca squeezed a smile, shaking her head.

“Yeah, I thought so. There’s a special guest outside. Perhaps she can ease you up a bit,” she pressed the lips and pointed at the door.

Beca opened the door, wondering.

_ Who would want to see me now? _

The answer popped right on the face the instant she pushed. A red shade jumped on her for a bear hug. It startled her a bit but soon she realised how ridicules her question was.

Winking her puppy blue eyes and giggling — who could it be if not Chloe?

The ginger hair girl suddenly eyed on her from head to toe after letting loose the arms.

“Where’s my badge?”

“Ooh!” Beca slammed on the forehead, gasping. She left that on the nightstand this morning.

“I knew you would forget that so I have to ask Amy to do a little run,” angry as she sounded, but then she laughed and presented the golden badge on her palm.  _ Phew! _ Beca sighed, much relieved.

Tenderly, she tugged the edge of Beca’s jersey and pinned the badge under the snake embroidery. The anxiety that once washed Beca over, was now all flushed away in the finest of Chloe’s touch.

“All set!” Chloe looked up and stepped a step behind to check on her work while Beca was looking down at the badge.

It laid soundly on the green silk, catching the light. 

“You okay? You look pale,” Chloe’s voice dragged her attention back. She caught Chloe's gaze, a worrying one.

“A little tense…maybe,” she fiddled with the loosen hair strand.

Chloe edged her hand towards Beca’s, letting the fingers unfurled and slipped into her palm, cooling down the mind-racing Beca with her warmth.

“Don’t worry. You’ve been practising so hard this week and don’t forget our  Christmas training! I have my faith in you, Beca. Trust yourself.” Beca nodded as she saw the firmness in those blue eyes.

“I've got to go. Aubrey has saved a seat for me. And she’ll start grumble-mumble if I don’t go by now.”

She leaned forwards. A kiss was landed on Beca’s cheek.

“You’ll make it. I trust you,” she grinned and waved goodbye. 

Beca watched as Chloe scurried out. What remained in the room was her alone with the echo of Chloe saying “I trust you”. She clutched at the lucky charm on her chest.

And back in the locker room, she was barely the same as she had been ten minutes ago. A confidence grip on the broom — yes, she was ready for this.

“Wow. Chloe really has her way with you,” Stacie mocked, but Beca appeared unmoved.

“BOYS AND GIRLS, GO AND TAKE ‘EM DOWN!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DID EVERYONE SEE THE BECHLOE KISS??? We did it, Bechloe's Army! We won the battle! Surly the best Christmas gift or yet, the best thing happened in 2020!!!  
> DROP A BYE NOW COS I HAVE TO REWATCH THAT AGAIN  
> \---  
> Merry Christmas pals. Thank y'all for the support - kudos and comments; and thanks UrSoWeird for bringing the fantasy to life. 2020 is tough but it feels a lot better when I'm hanging out on AO3. Stay strong for an unknown 2021 and the development of the story!


	23. Bludger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so raw that gorden ramsey won't even bother to insult this

Once Professor Johnson rang a sharp whistle, the greens and yellows dashed into the sky.

There was stadium full of cheering from both Slytherin and Hufflepuff. Confronting with the flying silver serpent flag over the other side was the black badger banner of Hufflepuff.

As she always did, Beca flew overheads, getting a bird’s-eye view of the entire field. She swept every single corner with extra attention for a trace of gold. The Quidditch Cup of the year would go to Slytherin if they won with a hundred points ahead. And to achieve this, she was put under high expectation and it was weighting on her.

She had to catch the ball, and had to beat Jesse to it.

“Ayy Beca, what’s that blingy on your robe?” Jesse jested when they met mid-air.

Beca had her focus narrowed down under, giving Jesse a cold shoulder.

Stacie broke the zero with an excellent shot. The Chasers celebrated with a high-five then quickly got back in shape, bearing down at a Hufflepuff Chaser in possession of Quaffle. Jonasson gave them a further push by aiming a Bludger at the Quaffle holder. In a great fright, the poor guy slipped the red ball and it was now fallen in Hannah’s hand. A long pass to Stacie in front of the post. Before the Keeper realised, the Quaffle had already whizzed through the ring, bringing another ten points to Slytherin.

Cheers after cheers greeted Stacie after the goal. She turned a brisk somersault on the broom for her success.

Then Beca saw it, right next to the Slytherin’s goalpost, the glint of glory. She went into a nosedive and so did Jesse. Both dived towards the stilt nearly in parallel.

The Snitch had made the best use of its wings. It slalomed around the posts and extended the trail in between the stands, zigzagging. Beca and Jesse were racing after it. They danced along the vertical establishments while keeping up with each other. The heart-racing chase had won them waves of wild cheers. 

Beca was an only stand away from the Snitch when something went bang far behind. Down on the audience seats, some gasped and some even cried. She looked around to see a shocking scene.

Stacie toppled over the handle and fell, laying unconsciously on the lawn.

Professor Johnson called stop of the match at once. Beca veered off course to where Stacie lay and where her teammates encircled.

“What happened?” The question burst out before her feet touched the ground.

“It was Bumper. The arse was smacking you with a Bludger and Stacie caught that. She blocked the shoot for you but it went on her head…” Jonasson sighed, in much remorse. Beca was biting her lip, kicking herself for missing the attack.

She stared blankly at Stacie whose eyes were tightly shut until she was taken out by a few volunteers on a stretcher.

Few steps away, the Hufflepuff Beater that once taunted on her height, Bumper, was acting out his masterpiece in slow-motion, almost ridiculously to his teammates.

Beca was about to give him a taste of her fury fist but Jonasson held her back.

“Listen, he _did_ _not_ foul. Stacie protected you with the only way she came up at the moment. You may not like hearing this but the truth is — the headshot wasn’t intended and she was just unlucky.”

“But…” Her retort tailed off soon as she saw the look on Jonasson’s face.

Now that they were one Chaser short, but the match must go on and Slytherin would face a harsher condition. Beca knew, she had to be quick.

“It all depends on you now, Beca. We have your back. Just go for it.” Jonasson patted on her shoulder. Beca nodded, with hands clenched.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> long time no see! i'm recovering from winter slide. thought since 2021 is as crazy as 2020, regaining language ability seems a bit unnecessary, but then i remembered my ongoing work there :p


	24. Champion

The match resumed with another whistle blown.

Sensing the tension, Jesse kept his mouth shut and concentrated on his only task at hand. On the other hand, Bumper mimicked the faint-and-fall Stacie in the most dramatic way possible whenever he drove past a green-shirted player. This mocking had hurt no one but himself since Rodger returned the favour with a Bludger kiss.

The absence of the prize Chaser had put the Slytherin team in severe adversity which gave the opponent a perfect gap to catch up. The 20-point advantage Slytherin once piled up was soon erased, and Hufflepuff was enjoying the lead with an outscoring 40.

“Damn it!” Beca’s chest was boiling with fury.

She had to win, for Stacie.

Darting around aimlessly, she was one, anxious for the Hufflepuff dominance and two, worry about Stacie. Her mind was too unrestful for the search of the Snitch.

Unwittingly, her hand flicked across the icy metal badge. 

And in a blink, all her anger had died down.

Believe in yourself.

A Chloe-like voice rang in her head.

It’s no use brooding about Stacie. Win the match and bring her the trophy — or else all her efforts paid will go wasted.

She held the lucky charm tight in her palm. It sent her a shiver of calmness prevailing over erupting emotion.

She narrowed her eyes, focusing on the pitch down under. That’s when she saw it, the golden flash near the lawn.

Speeding up, she immediately flew towards that.

And Jesse was hot on the trail as she could tell.

Just when Jesse was about to speed up, a Bludger coming from the right blocked his path. She could easily imagine the smirk on Jonasson’s face when making this strike without looking back. Hufflepuff Beater did the same too. Bumper aimed another Bludger at Beca’s back but was returned crisply by Rodger guarding nearby. The instant karma startled the original sender. He had to barrel-roll clumsily away from the shot.

Beca was now only a few inches away from the Snitch. With Jesse gaining on her, they dove to the ground together, neck and neck.

Silence fell over the stadium as everyone was holding their breath, watching the reckless chase. 

The Seekers were descending at a breakneck pace. Neither of them had the intention to swerve up.

The ground was getting closer and closer. Jesse was the first to give up.

But there was no sign of stopping for Beca. Her left hand reached out. The golden ball was whizzing back and forth. The instant her fingertips felt the cool metallic touch, the other hand pulled with a broom-snapping effort.

A shade of dark green rose in the air. In her lifted hand rested a nut-sized ball.

Bagman’s voice had submerged in the commotion, but she knew, they won. 

Slytherin ended in a 170-60 victory over Hufflepuff. They had won the Cup!

By the time Beca finally landed on her feet, the field was already swarmed with students. Jonasson dashed towards her with the silver cup in his grip. Before she realised, she had been swimming through the hugs and cheers from the overjoyed Slytherins.

The crowd raised the champion Seeker into the air, threw and caught for a few times.

She couldn’t hear her own laughter but knew full well she was shedding tears of joy. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy valentine's day everyone! i don't know you but you definitely hold a very special place in my heart <3  
> \---  
> i've put background info of other quidditch player in the footnotes. i think there's one in Ch11.  
> \---  
> after a these years, i finally come to a realisation that it's Scarlett Jo-HAN-sson, not Jo-NA-sson. so umm that means the Slytherin Captain is actually Jo-NA-sson, not Jo-HAN-sson. i got them mixed up :(


End file.
